Lee Chengung: China appoints new top international business negotiator amidst tariff tension with us

China appointed on Wednesday Lee Chenggang Between the ongoing trade war between Beijing and Washington, introduced new tariffs on each other’s goods with the two countries as their new top international trade negotiator.
The Ministry of Human Resources confirmed that Li would now work as the vice -president of the Commerce and Representative for the international trade talks. He has decades of experience in global trade diplomacy, which has recently served as China’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva.
Lee played an important role in preparing the 2020 trade deal with the United States. He has also served as a Deputy Permanent Representative in the United Nations in Switzerland and has previously served as Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Commerce.

Although there was no official reason for leadership change, it comes at a time when Chinese authorities weigh many options to combat American moves. These include deepening trade relations with Europe and global South and focusing on the huge domestic market of 1.4 billion consumers.
Recently, after increasing the tariff on Chinese goods by 145 percent, China has been facing trade pressure from Trump’s administration, while Beijing retaliated with 125 percent of the duties on US exports.
These tight-for-tat measures are part of a major trade war that has complicated global markets and China’s economic reforms.
China’s economy increased by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025, exceeding expectations, increased by strong export numbers. Many of these exports were “front-loaded” before the 2 tariff hike deadline determined by Washington.
However, economists believe that the correct effect of these tariffs will begin to reflect in the coming months. “Damage to business war will appear in macro data next month,” Jhewei Zhang Pinpoint asset management as quoted by AFP.
Addressing the current situation, Deputy Commissioner of the National Statistics Bureau, Sheng Lion, said, “The US implementation of high tariffs will put some pressure on our country’s foreign trade and economy,” but he insisted that it would not “improve the general trend of China’s economy in a long time.”