Xi Jinping in Hanoi signs almost 40 agreements against US tariffs.
This is the Chinese president’s second trip to Vietnam in less than 18 months to reboot strategic cooperation with the communist country to deal with US tariffs. The visit is part of a regional tour that includes Malaysia and Cambodia. Meanwhile, Cambodia sent Taiwanese citizens to China accused of working in online scam centres.
China and Vietnam today signed almost 40 cooperation agreements whose details have not yet been released, but which will probably concern trade between the two communist countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hanoi today to reboot economic cooperation and counter tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. This is Xi’s second visit to Vietnam in less than 18 months and the first diplomatic mission of the year for the Chinese leader, who will also visit Malaysia and Cambodia.
Phnom Penh is already preparing for the arrival of the Chinese president. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry today announced that Cambodia arrested 180 Taiwanese suspected of involvement in online scam centres in the Southeast Asian country.
“Cambodia, under pressure from China, did not provide a list of our country’s nationals or the total number deported, and the ministry not only continues to urge Cambodia to provide the list as soon as possible, but also expresses its serious concern and protest,” it said.
Neither Phnom Penh nor Beijing has issued any statements on the matter.
“Trade wars and tariff wars have no winners, and protectionism has no way out,” Xi writes in an article published by Nhan Dan, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam, ahead of his visit.
“We must firmly defend the multilateral trading system, firmly maintain the stability of global production and supply chains, and firmly maintain an open and cooperative international environment,” he added.
In an article published in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tô Lâm, the country’s paramount leader, said that the close relations between the two countries is based on mutual trust, sincerity, and mutual understanding.
Vietnamese President Lương Cường met his Chinese counterpart at Hanoi airport, a gesture usually reserved for VIPs. Later, during a meeting with Tô Lâm, Xi mentioned the historical ties between the two nations.
China is Vietnam’s main trading partner, while the Southeast Asian country depends most of all on China for imports.
To bypass the tariffs imposed on China during Trump’s first term, several Chinese companies (and others) moved production of goods intended for export to Vietnam.
China is Vietnam’s main supplier of raw materials, while Hanoi had so far managed to exploit tensions with the United States to turn itself into a regional manufacturing hub.
By 2024, despite some friction, mainly related to disputes in the South China Sea, bilateral trade between the two countries reached US$ 260 billion. In the first quarter of 2025, China was Vietnam second-largest direct investor with US$ 1.2 billion.
During the meeting with Tô Lâm, Xi expressed his willingness to expand cooperation on 5G and artificial intelligence, announcing three possible railway projects in the north of the country, near the border.
For his part, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính met with He Dongfeng, chairman of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), to whom he proposed an increase in investment in the country and collaboration on the purchase of new aircraft.
Meanwhile, Vietnam – whose main export market remains the United States – has sought to boost agricultural export to China to reduce economic risks arising from chaotic US policies.
The Trump administration imposed a 46 per cent tariff on Vietnamese exports, which Hanoi is trying to negotiate downwards, making further concessions to Washington, while China faces 145 per cent tariffs, to which it has responded with reciprocal tariffs.
