As Chinese President Xi Jinping began a high-profiled tour of Southeast Asia, the region's neighbor and former U.S. President Donald Trump has alleged that Xi employed the visit to undermine the United States, particularly in relation to the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing.
Xi arrived in Hanoi on Monday for a five-day regional visit, starting with meetings with Vietnam's top leadership. Xi and General Secretary To Lam signed over 40 cooperation documents during the meetings, covering trade and supply chain development.
Trump immediately came back aggressively from the White House, and as he said, "I don't blame China, I don't blame Vietnam. It's a beautiful meeting. But they're trying to figure out, 'how do we screw the United States of America?'
Vietnam, one of the globe's leading manufacturing hubs and among the countries most affected by Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, charges a 46% tariff on its exports to the US—its largest trading partner. Vietnam had imported around $30 billion worth of Chinese products in the first quarter of the year and exported $31.4 billion to the US.
Xi’s Southeast Asia tour—covering Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia—comes at a time when Beijing faces U.S. tariffs of up to 145%, and nations are looking to renegotiate terms during a 90-day grace period. Xi has used this opportunity to position China as a stable and reliable trading partner, in contrast to what critics describe as inconsistent U.S. trade policy.
In an op-ed in Nhandan, the Communist Party's newspaper in Vietnam, Xi went on to say that "there are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars," cautioning protectionist actions are self-defeating. Later, during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Xi called on both nations to resist unilateral pressure and economic intimidation.
In the end of it all, tensions were further heightened as Chinese official Xia Baolong, in a TV address, went after the U.S. trade policy, calling it "extremely shameless" and suggesting it had the aims of "cripple" Hong Kong's economy. He declared that China was "not afraid of trouble" and responded with a recent affront from the U.S., likely Vice President JD Vance.
While it has signed a number of new bilateral agreements—rail connectivity among them—Vietnam has moved slowly to respond to U.S. concerns. Trump administration officials report that talks are under way to reduce reciprocal tariffs, but details are vague.
Analysts portray Vietnam as attempting to tread a delicate tightrope between its strategic alignment with the United States and economic reliance on China. "Vietnam can counterbalance this Chinese engagement wave by ramping up diplomatic overtures towards the U.S. or other major partners," ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute's Phan Xuan Dung said.
In the event of a potential U.S.-China economic "decoupling," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent played down concerns on Monday, saying, "There's a big deal to be done at some point. There doesn't have to be decoupling—but there could be."
Elsewhere, the Trump administration is trying to limit China's reach overseas, particularly in Latin America. Bessent recently met with Argentina's President Javier Milei, vocal about criticizing Chinese investment deals that come with natural resource concessions. China's embassy in Argentina replied, attacking the U.S. as being guilty of "malicious slander" and meddling with issues of sovereignty.
While the U.S. has only recently granted temporary tariff reprieve to certain Chinese electronics like smartphones and semiconductors, Trump made it clear they were not permanent. "Nobody is getting off the hook. especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Following his Vietnam trip, Xi will continue with his diplomatic tour with visits to Malaysia and Cambodia until Friday.