Li to meet foreign bosses, trade support boosted

Agencies

Premier Li Qiang is expected to meet with top foreign executives on Monday and the Ministry of Commerce has rolled out more support as local and overseas businesses brace for Donald Trump's threat to hike tariffs on Chinese goods.

Ahead of a supply chain expo in Beijing, Li is likely to address a gathering of businesspeople and hear from top executives of global firms such as Rio Tinto, Corning and Charoen Pokphand, according to people familiar with the matter.

The discussions will likely cover a wide range of supply chain and trade flow issues, the people said. One of them said such events with the premier tend to be highly scripted. The roundtable is organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, a national foreign trade and investment promotion agency, the people said.

Global businesses are preparing for US president-elect Trump to make good on his campaign promise of a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, a level that Bloomberg Economics says would decimate trade between the world's two largest economies. This could add even more strain on China, which is already struggling with a slowing economy, deflation and a slump in foreign investment.

The meeting takes place a day before the second China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing from November 26-30, which is also hosted by the CCPIT.

Premier Li headlined the first expo, but a vice president could give the keynote speech this year, one of the people said.

CCPIT has taken on a bigger role in promoting investment. Its chairman, Ren Hongbin, who was formerly a vice commerce minister, met with Elon Musk during the Tesla chie executive's visit to China earlier this year. Ren also led a group of Chinese business leaders to the APEC Business Leaders Summit in Lima this month, and met with the Peruvian Minister of Economy and Finance.

Premier Li last held a roundtable with foreign business executives ahead of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai earlier this month. The upcoming meeting with top foreign executives would be the first such event since Trump's election victory.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry yesterday announced a series of policy measures aimed at boosting China's foreign trade, including pledging to strengthen financing support to firms and expand exports of agricultural products amid the tariff threat has that has rattled Chinese manufacturers and accelerated factory relocation to Southeast Asia and other regions.

China will encourage financial institutions to provide more products to help firms improve their currency risk management, and to strengthen macro policy coordination to keep the yuan "reasonably stable," the ministry said in a statement published online.

The country will also expand exports of agricultural products and support imports of core equipment and energy products, the statement said.

"(We will) guide and help firms to actively respond to unreasonable trade restrictions by other countries and create a good external environment for exports," according to the statement.

A Reuters poll of economists showed yesterday that the US could impose nearly 40 percent tariffs on imports from China early next year, potentially slicing China's growth by up to 1 percentage point.

In order to facilitate cross-border personnel exchanges, China will support business personnel from key trading partners to come to China, the ministry said.