Xi to embark on three-nation tour today amid US tariffs row

Chinese President Xi Jinping will kickoff a five-day, three-nation Southeast Asia tour on Monday as Beijing seeks to tighten regional trade ties and offset the impact of huge tariffs unleashed by his US counterpart Donald Trump.

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It comes after Xi said China and Europe should “jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” state media quoted the leader as saying in a meeting with the Spanish prime minister.

Xi will visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia in his first overseas trip of the year, China’s foreign ministry said.

He will meet his three Southeast Asian counterparts on a tour that “bears major importance” for the broader region, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Bejing is trying to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Trump, who announced—and then mostly reversed —sweeping tariffs this month that sent global markets into a tailspin.

Trump's tariffs “inflict serious harm on developing countries,” Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told World Trade Organisation chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a call on Friday.

The !O-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was the biggest recipient of Chinese exports last year, data from China's customs authority shows, importing $586.5 billion in Chinese goods.