Austin Ramzy
Appearances
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
That's right. These countries were all hit with pretty steep tariffs initially. Earlier this month, Vietnam was 46 percent, Cambodia 49, Malaysia 24 percent. Those are on pause for 90 days. But it was quite a shock to all of them. And they are now trying to figure out their trade relationship with the U.S. and the rest of the world.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
So Xi is visiting now and he's offering a pitch of stability, of support for free trade, a pitch of predictability that China is not going to impose tariffs or anything like that in a manner like the U.S. So he's coming to these countries at a time when they're looking for support.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
That's right. China can't unilaterally fix the problems for these countries, and that's why there has been a heavy reliance on sort of the rhetorical side of things thus far on the trip and not a lot announced in terms of deals. But at the same time, China does have close relationships with all of these countries. Those relationships are growing deeper.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
China is very interested in investment in data centers in Malaysia, and that's been a key part of their economic relationship in recent years. In Cambodia, China has funded a lot of infrastructure investment. built some major highways. Cambodia just reopened a naval base that was refurbished with Chinese investment.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
So these are all countries that have close ties with China and rely on China for investment. Southeast Asia is, as a region, China's biggest trading partner. And these countries are all very important to China. So Xi is stepping in at a time to offer some at least rhetorical support. But the numbers, the improvements in trade and investment, we have to wait to see the details on that.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
He's offering a pitch of stability, of support for free trade. So he's coming to these countries at a time when they're looking for support.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
Right. So we've seen China preparing for the likelihood of a trade fight with the U.S. for some time now. And so it announced last month that they were holding off on tariffs on French brandy, for example. And the European Commission president recently had a call with the Chinese premier discussing trade.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
And one of the key issues is whether or not products that will now no longer be exported to the US might hit other markets, which is obviously a concern of a lot of countries. And then in Latin America, China is carrying out a lot of economic diplomacy there as well. They buy a lot of commodities from the region. And foreign policy experts have told us that It's seen as a place where the U.S.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
perhaps has dropped the ball in terms of engagement. The Chinese foreign minister spoke recently about not trying to dominate regions around the world, which is obviously a slight towards the U.S. And Lula da Silva will visit Beijing next month. And he and she have met several times recently. So there is likelihood that there will be more agreements announced between.
WSJ What’s News
Harvard Hit With $2 Billion Government Funding Freeze
So that provides an opportunity for China as well.