China appoints new trade envoy in face of tariff turmoil

According to officials, China has unapologetically appointed a new business minister as the US’s “practice of “tariff obstacles and industry bullying” is seriously affecting the world economy.

Former assistant trading minister and ambassador to the WTO, Li Chenggang, succeeds Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen as former trade negotiator.

The change comes as Beijing refuses to step up in a trade war with Washington that was sparked by US President Donald Trump’s significant taxes on Chinese products.

Beijing announced its GDP growth rate on Wednesday, which was higher than expected, by 5.4 % between January and March, compared to the same time last year.

Li, 58, recently held a number of important positions in the banking government, including deputy permanent consultant to the UN in Geneva.

According to an expert who spoke to Reuters, Wang also had experience negotiating with the US since the first Trump administration, making the claim that the job change was “very abrupt and possibly problematic” given the current trade conflicts.

According to Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a senior consultant to the Conference Board’s China Center, “it might be that China’s top administration needs someone else to break the deadlock and eventually start negotiating,” according to Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a top assistant to the Conference Board’s China Center.

Another researcher who spoke to Reuters, however, suggests that the move might just be a “routine promotion” that only occurs during a certain tense time.

Sheng Laiyun, deputy commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS ), warned that US levies would put pressure on China’s foreign trade and economy, but he added that the country’s economy is resilient and should improve over the long term.

We strongly oppose the US’s use of price controls and industry bullying, Sheng said.

It “violates the principles of the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) and the laws of the economy,” according to the WTO, has a significant impact on the global economic order, and stifles the recovery of the global economy.

The US if” stop whining about being a survivor of global trade,” the state media outlet China Daily wrote in an editor earlier this year.

The editor continued,” The US is not getting ripped off by anyone… rather… it has been taking a complimentary ride on the globalization train.”

Beijing has also revealed that its GDP numbers have far exceeded aspirations, with the majority of researchers anticipating a 5.1 % growth rate for Beijing.

Solid retail sales and promising stock output helped to boost growth in the second-largest economy in the world.

However, this information covers a time before the US began levying tariffs on Chinese goods, which increased from 10 % to 15 %.

Trump earlier this week had lifted China’s duties to 145 %, but Beijing increased them to 125 %, and Trump lifted them to 145 %.

Therefore, some of the development may be due to companies rushing out supplies in a “front loading” strategy to avoid Trump’s tariffs.

As taxes go into effect, experts predict a sharp decline in China’s exports in March may be felt for a while.

Progress is also hampered by China’s home slump. In comparison to the same period last year, property investment dropped by about 10 % in the first three weeks of 2025.

New home costs decreased in comparison to the same quarter last year, indicating that there are still too many vacant homes and not enough buyers.

Officials claim that there is plenty of space for stimulus measures and plenty of resources available to them to boost the economy and implement additional assistance measures.

However, given that Washington’s tariffs have a significant impact on Beijing’s important export market, it will be particularly important for China to boost domestic need and investing this year.