TAIPEI, Taiwan – China appointed Li Chenggang as a new trade negotiator on Wednesday, a key figure in talks to resolve the escalating tariff war with the United States, replacing veteran negotiator Wang Shouwen.
Li, 58, who previously served as assistant commerce minister during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, has been named as China’s International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce, according to China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Li most recently represented China at the World Trade Organization.
It was unclear if Wang, 59, 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.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a Radio Free Asia request for comment on the change.
Li, who studied in Germany, previously served in senior roles at China’s Ministry of Commerce, including as Deputy Director-General in both the trade and legal departments. He became Assistant Minister of Commerce in 2016.
In 2021, he was appointed China’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization and also served as deputy representative to the U.N. in Geneva and other international bodies in Switzerland.
“The unilateralist approach of the U.S. blatantly violates WTO rules, exacerbates economic uncertainty, disrupts global trade and may even subvert the rules-based multilateral trading system,” Li said at a February WTO meeting in Geneva.
“China firmly opposes this and urges the United States to abolish its wrongful practices,” he said, warning that such moves have triggered “tariff shocks” to the world.
The decision comes as trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies continue to escalate. Since early April, the U.S. and China have been locked in a cycle of retaliatory tariffs.
On Wednesday, the White House announced that an “up to 245%” tariff has been imposed on Chinese imports due to China’s “retaliatory actions.”
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, said at a press briefing Wednesday.
The appointment also comes amid Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Southeast Asia tour, where he ramped up rhetoric of unity in the face of protectionism and shocks to the global order.
At a state dinner in Putrajaya with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Xi said China would work with regional partners to counter global instability.
“In the face of shocks to global order and economic globalization, China and Malaysia will stand with countries in the region to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical confrontation, as well as the counter-currents of unilateralism and protectionism,” Xi said.
China promised, Xi said, to offer greater market access to Malaysia and Vietnam.
“Together we will safeguard the bright prospects of our Asian family,” he said.
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.