China urges some of the world's top businessmen to help “growth and uncertainty.”
At a global business gathering in Beijing on Sunday, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang called on countries to open up their markets as the country boasted more U.S. tariffs.
State media reported: “In today’s increasingly fragmented world, instability and uncertainty are rising, and it is more necessary for countries to open up their markets and businesses … to resist risks and challenges.”
See also: April 2, set the date of Trump's reciprocity tariff unveiling
Sources told Reuters that included Apple's Tim Cook, Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon, Astrazeneca's Pascal Soriot and Saudi Aramco's Amin Nasser attended the two-day forum that will end late Monday, with some expected to meet XI Jinping on Friday.
Beijing is eager to attract foreign investment amid rising geopolitical tensions as policymakers try to boost domestic consumption to offset fresh U.S. tariff headwinds.
“We will focus on combining policy strengthening with stimulus market forces,” Li said.
“We will implement more aggressive macroeconomic policies, further strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments, and introduce new incremental policies if necessary.”
Lee expressed hope that entrepreneurs will become “a firm defender and promoter of globalization” and “resisting unilateralism and protectionism.”
Lee meets seven U.S. CEOs
A source said the U.S. CEO has fewer CEOs at the summit than last year due to increased geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Lee met with Daines and seven other U.S. CEOs on Sunday afternoon, who Daines called their perception of China's business environment.
Montana lawmakers are a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, who held Saturday with the vice premier, for the first time American politicians have visited China since Trump took office in January.
Trump announces a fresh wave “Reciprocal” tariffs effective on April 2countries targeting trade barriers to U.S. products, which may include China.
he This month, 20% tariffs are imposed on Chinese exportsprompting China to impose additional tariffs on American agricultural products.
The Trump administration will review on April 1 in Beijing's compliance with the “Phase I” of the United States-China trade agreement.
According to state media, at the forum, Chinese economic decision-maker Han Wenxiu vowed to work further to deepen supply reforms and promote self-reliance in science and technology.
Nomura says The new assessment of the central bank’s “increasing external uncertainty”, coupled with a desire for stable financial markets, and a firm focus on long-term bond yields and a firm defense of its currency, could be “barriers to cut policy rates.”
“We see the risk of PBOC is getting greater and greater [the People’s Bank of China] Possibly lower tax rates than our current 30bp forecast,” 15 basis points in the second quarter and 15 basis points in the fourth quarter — “may be considering lowering the shareholding rate to emphasize its policy priorities to promote sci-fi technology innovation and consumption. ”
But its analysts (Jing Wang, Harrington Zhang, Hannah Liu, Ting Lu) maintained a 100 basis point forecast in the ratio of reserve requirements for banks in China this year – with a expected ratio of 50 basis points in the second and fourth quarters.
Meeting with foreign CEOs as FDI plunges
In recent weeks, Chinese Ministry of Commerce officials have met at least twelve executives from foreign companies including Brazilian mining giants, Airbus, Pepsi, Procter & Gambling, Honeywell and Swire.
The meetings came amid official data showing last year’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the most since the 2008 global financial crisis.
China's State Council unveiled an action plan to attract foreign investment last week, which promises measures such as smoothing cross-border data transmission.
Just as China ended this month’s annual parliamentary meeting, the government vowed to “vigorously promote” consumer consumption, facing a slow and protracted property crisis in consumer demand.
But analysts say policymakers will need to launch greater stimulus if Beijing and Washington are in trouble.
- Jim Pollard's Extra Input and Editing by Reuters
Note: Nomura's remarks were added to this report on Monday, March 24.
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