Chinese ex-trade negotiator who backed Trump slams US for ‘dismantling the system’ of global trade
- Long Yongtu tells Boao Forum for Asia that ‘globalised economic and trade systems are at stake’, and targeting Chinese companies in Mexico would mean higher prices for Americans
- Former US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez also takes aim at critics of free-trade policies
In a trade environment where protectionism and supply-chain decoupling have left them with little other recourse, Chinese companies are finding themselves compelled to move production to Mexico, and any additional containment efforts by Washington would hit Americans in their wallets, according to a former high-ranking Chinese trade official.
Long Yongtu’s condemnation of hardline moves targeting Chinese goods came during a panel discussion on Tuesday ahead of the opening of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is taking place until Friday in the southern Chinese resort town of Boao, Hainan province.
The former vice-minister of foreign trade, and China’s point man during its 15-year talks to join the World Trade Organization more than two decades ago, also accused Washington of destroying the world’s free-trade system that it once took the lead in establishing.
It is the globalised economic and trade systems that are at stake … now the US is dismantling the system
On Tuesday, Long touched on one of the changes since then, noting that the data he has collected reveals a seven-fold increase in Chinese investors buying land in Mexican industrial parks since 2019.
