Chinese Premier Li Qiang, right, meets U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday. (Ng Han Guan/AFP/Getty Images)
The United States and China should use “candid communication” to “build trust and clear up misgivings,” the Chinese premier told Sen. Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, during a meeting in Beijing on Sunday.
Daines (R-Montana) is the first member of Congress to travel to Beijing since Trump took office in January, immediately signaling he would take an aggressive approach by stacking his Cabinet with China hawks and launching an all-out trade war.
Accompanied by senior executives of seven American companies — including the chief executives of Qualcomm, Pfizer and Cargill — Daines met Premier Li Qiang in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Sunday.
“Collectively, these seven companies have over 275 years of experience of doing business in China,” Daines told Li as he introduced the American CEOs, according to a transcript cited by CNBC. As an executive for Procter & Gamble, Daines worked in China and Hong Kong during the 1990s.
Chief executives who accompanied the senator to the meeting included Raj Subramaniam of FedEx, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Brian Sikes of Cargill and Pfizer’s Albert Bourla. Boeing senior vice president Brendan Nelson also attended.
“These companies have each been here decades … contributing significantly to growing the businesses and creating success,” he told Li in the same building where, earlier this month, the premier warned that “changes unseen in a century” were unfolding rapidly.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, Beijing and Washington have become embroiled in a retaliatory cycle of imposing tariffs, which began in February when Trump imposed a levy of 10 percent on all products China sells to the United States, then doubled it this month. Coming on top of existing tariffs, that means some Chinese products now bear a 45 percent duty in the United States.
China swiftly retaliated by slapping tariffs of up to 15 percent on a raft of U.S. agricultural products and blacklisting more than 20 American companies, a move designed to hurt businesses in Trump-supporting heartland states but in sectors where China has other options for suppliers, such as pork.
The tariffs could hinder China’s efforts to grow GDP by about 5 percent this year as exports have been one of the few bright spots in the economy, with domestic consumption remaining anemic.
In their meeting Sunday, Li told Daines and the visiting executives that both China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation, according to a report from Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. Repeating Beijing’s mantra that neither side would gain from a trade war, Li called for greater cooperation between the world’s two largest economies.
“China always welcomes companies from all over the world, including the United States, to share development opportunities in China, and will actively address their legitimate demands, treat domestic and foreign companies as equals, and continue to foster a sound business environment,” Li said, according to Xinhua.
The China Development Forum is an annual conference organized by the China Development Research Foundation, part of China’s State Council, or cabinet.
Other international business leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, are attending the conference. They could be meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday, Reuters reported from Beijing, citing unnamed sources.
A group of American business leaders — including the heads of Apple, Pfizer, Cargill, Mastercard and Eli Lilly — met with China’s vice premier He Lifeng on Sunday, the Commerce Ministry said.