Xi Jinping visited three Southeast Asian countries on his first foreign tour after Trump’s tariffs

These three countries are part of the Southeast Asian Nations Association (ASEAN) sub-group, with China’s largest trade volume reaching US$962.28 billion last year and China’s total exports reach US$575 billion.

Many Chinese observers have warned about the competitive nature of China and its Asian neighbors – because they are both export-driven economies, and the United States is one of their main markets, which may hinder Beijing’s efforts to gather them, thus further exacerbating the dilemma.

Although Xi Jinping has been visiting these countries for some time, the timing of the visit is suspended from taxation on other countries, along with Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods.

According to the latest U.S. notice, China’s overall trade tariff rate is 145%.

China retaliated with 84% tariffs, imposed some restrictions on imports of some U.S. movies and expressed interest in having conversations with Washington to resolve the issue.

China remains the only country to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs.

Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia have been hit hard by U.S. tariffs but have tried to impose bilateral trade tariffs.

With Trump’s tariffs on China’s huge scope, Xi Jinping tried earlier this week to strengthen China’s strategic relations with neighbors by properly managing differences and strengthening supply chains.

State media reported that in his first public speech after Trump’s global urgent need for tariffs, Xi Jinping called for a community with a shared future with neighbors and worked to open up new foundations for China’s neighborhood work.

Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the High Central Meeting in Works related to Neighbors.

Senior officials in the ruling Communist Party attended the two-day meeting Tuesday and Wednesday.

As its relations with the United States become increasingly tense, China has been steadily reshaping its neighborhood policies.

China has recently narrowed border tensions with India and tried to improve its ties with other neighbors such as Japan and South Korea, preparing for the tough times during Trump’s tough time as the trade and strategic front.

In the midst of a military stalemate in Ladakh in the eastern region, India-China relations have been frozen for more than four years, showing signs of improvement after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kazan, Russia in October.

Since then, the two countries have held a series of high-level meetings to normalize relations.

Recently, China held trade talks with South Korea and Japan, the first economic dialogue between the three countries in five years, discussing regional trade facilitation as these countries prepare for Trump’s tariff announcements.

Trade ministers of the three countries discussed free trade agreements to promote regional and global trade.

China is also establishing trade relations with several other nearby countries (BRIs) (BRIs).