China appoints new top trade negotiator amid US tariff war

BEIJING – China on April 16 unexpectedly appointed a new trade negotiator key in any talks to resolve the escalating tariff war with the US, replacing veteran trade czar Wang Shouwen with the Chinese envoy to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Mr Li Chenggang, 58, a former assistant commerce minister during the first administration of US President Donald Trump, takes over from Mr Wang, 59, the Human Resources and Social Security Ministry said in a statement.

It was unclear if Mr Wang, who assumed the No. 2 role at the Commerce Ministry in 2022, had taken up a post elsewhere. His name was no longer on the ministry’s leadership team, according to the ministry’s website as at April 16.

The ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the change.

The shift in the top leadership at the Commerce Ministry comes as Beijing pursues a hardline stance in an intensifying trade war with Washington, triggered by Mr Trump’s steep tariffs on items imported from China.

The abrupt change also took place in the middle of President Xi Jinping’s tour of South-east Asia to consolidate economic and trading ties with close neighbours amid the stand-off with the US.

Commerce Minister Wang Wentao was among senior officials flanking Mr Xi on his visit to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia this week.

“This is certainly a change, given how quickly trade tensions have escalated since Liberation Day, especially given Wang Shouwen’s experience in negotiating with the US since the first Trump administration,” said Mr Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a senior adviser to the China Centre at The Conference Board, a think-tank.

He said the change was “very abrupt and potentially disruptive”, given how quickly trade tensions had escalated.

“We can only speculate as to why this happened at this precise moment, but