HANOI (Reuters) – President Xi Jinping will meet Vietnam’s leaders in Hanoi on Monday as he begins a three-nation trip to Southeast Asia, aiming to cement ties with some of China’s closest neighbours amid mounting trade tensions with the United States.
The visit, planned for weeks, comes as Beijing faces 145% U.S. duties, while Vietnam is negotiating a reduction of threatened U.S. tariffs of 46% that would otherwise apply in July after a global moratorium expires.
Xi will visit Vietnam from April 14 to 15, and Malaysia and Cambodia from April 15 to 18. He last visited Cambodia and Malaysia nine and 12 years ago, respectively.
Xi’s trip to Hanoi, his second in less than 18 months, aims to consolidate relations with a strategic neighbour that has received billions of dollars of Chinese investments in recent years as China-based manufacturers moved south to avoid tariffs imposed by the first Trump administration.
The two Communist-run countries are set to sign about 40 agreements in multiple sectors, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Saturday, noting Hanoi wanted to boost cooperation on railways, agricultural trade and the digital and green economy.
It was unclear whether the agreements would be binding and entail financial commitments.
Vietnam has agreed to use Chinese loans to build new rail links between the two countries, in a major confidence-building step that would boost bilateral trade and connections.
However, no loan agreement has yet been announced.
Beijing is also seeking Vietnam’s approval for its COMAC planes, which have so far struggled to find foreign buyers.
Despite strong economic ties, tensions frequently surface between the countries over contested boundaries in the South China Sea. Vietnam’s concessions to the U.S. to avoid tariffs may also irritate Beijing, as they include a crackdown on some trade with China and the deployment of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communication service in the Southeast Asian nation.
Vietnam, in recent months, has imposed anti-dumping duties on several Chinese steel products and ended a tax waiver for low-value parcels in a move that government officials described as meant to reduce the inflow of cheap Chinese goods.
The two other countries on Xi’s Southeast Asia itinerary, Cambodia and Malaysia, are facing U.S. duties of 49% and 24%, respectively, and have already begun reaching out to the U.S. to seek a reprieve.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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