Chinese President Xi Jinping signed dozens of cooperation agreements with Vietnam on Monday in a bid to deepen regional economic ties and blunt the impact of sweeping U.S. tariffs that have jolted China’s export-heavy economy.
The deals, finalized during Xi’s state visit to Hanoi, focus on streamlining supply chains and building out cross-border rail infrastructure as Washington doubles down on its trade war against Beijing, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. Vietnam, seeking to ease its own exposure to now-paused 46% U.S. tariffs, is walking a tightrope — boosting ties with China while avoiding the appearance of taking sides in the escalating Sino-American standoff.
“We should create greater synergy between our development strategies, implement well the cooperation plan between the two governments on synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy, and build more platforms for economic and technological cooperation,” Xi wrote in a Sunday op-ed for Nhandan, Vietnam’s state-run communist outlet. “China stands ready to advance cooperation with Vietnam on the three standard-gauge railways in northern Vietnam and the smart port.”
Xi’s visit marks his first to Vietnam since 2023 and is part of a broader Southeast Asia tour aimed at bolstering China’s regional influence as American economic pressure mounts. The agreements span sectors from trade and defense to artificial intelligence and green tech, Reuters separately reported, though financial specifics remain undisclosed.
The Chinese president leaned into the narrative of global partnership in his op-ed, urging “cooperation on industrial and supply chains” and warning that “trade war[s] and tariff war[s] will produce no winner.” Xi also sought to project China as “forging friendship and partnership” in contrast to what he painted as Washington’s tempestuous protectionism.
But the pitch for peace rings hollow against Beijing’s long record of international aggression and rule-breaking: the Chinese Communist Party continues to run Uyghur concentration camps in Xinjiang, threaten war over Taiwan, build illegal military outposts on artificial islands, and serve as a key driver of the global fentanyl crisis.
#China hints next steps in #tariff war with @realDonaldTrump. Two bloggers (one linked to @XHNews, other a known nationalist) both post lists of identical measures 🤔
:
1) suspend cooperation on fentanyl
2) ramp up tariffs on farm imports (soybeans, sorghum) from… pic.twitter.com/ghUvP1GdUD
— Eunice Yoon (@onlyyoontv) April 8, 2025
The move comes days after President Donald Trump narrowed the focus of his tariff regime, temporarily suspending high duties on most nations while ratcheting up pressure on China with 145% tariffs. Vietnam is still negotiating to avoid its own July tariff deadline, placing it in a delicate position between the two economic heavyweights.
The pageantry of Xi’s arrival — complete with ceremonial fanfare, a red-carpet welcome, glowing state media coverage, and the Chinese leader’s invocations of “shared revolutionary memory” — underscores a coordinated effort to frame the communist regimes as natural partners as traditional trade relationships buckle under American tariffs.
Xi is expected to visit Malaysia and Cambodia to broker similar deals as part of his Southeast Asia tour this week.
Neither the State Department nor the U.S. Trade Representative’s office immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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