HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — China’s leader Xi Jinping said no one wins in a trade war as he kicked off a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia on Monday, presenting China as a force for stability in contrast with U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs moves.

Although Trump has paused some tariffs, he has kept in place 145% duties on China, the world’s second-largest economy.

“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” Xi wrote in an editorial jointly published in Vietnamese and Chinese official media. “Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”

Xi’s visit lets China show Southeast Asia it is a “responsible superpower in the way that contrasts with the way the U.S. under President Donald Trump presents to the whole world,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.

Xi was greeted on the tarmac by Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong at the start of his two-day visit, a mark of honor not often given to visitors, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, a professor of Vietnamese studies at Fulbright University Vietnam. Students of a drum art group performed as women waved the red and yellow Chinese and Communist Party flags.

While Xi’s trip likely was planned earlier, it has become significant because of the tariff fight between China and the U.S. The visit offers a path for Beijing to shore up its alliances and find solutions for the high trade barrier that the U.S. has imposed on Chinese exports.

In Hanoi, Xi met with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, his counterpart. “In the face of turmoil and disruption in the current global context, China and Vietnam’s commitment to peaceful development, and deepening of friendship and cooperation and has brought the world valuable stability and certainty,” he said.

He also met with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The two sides signed a series of memorandums, whose details were not made public. Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s Communist Party, said that China and Vietnam will speed up a $8 billion railway project connecting the two countries in a deal that was approved in February.

The timing of the visit sends a “strong political message that Southeast Asia is important to China,” said Huong Le-Thu of the International Crisis Group think tank. She said that given the severity of Trump’s tariffs and despite the 90-day pause, Southeast Asian nations were anxious that the tariffs, if implemented, could complicate their development.

Vietnam is experienced at balancing its relations with the U.S and China. It is run under a communist, one-party system like China but has had a strong relationship with the U.S.

In 2023, it was the only country that received both U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. That year it also upgraded the U.S. to its highest diplomatic level, the same as China and Russia.

Vietnam was one of the biggest beneficiaries of countries trying to decouple their supply chains from China, as businesses moved here. China is its biggest trading partner, and China-Vietnam trade surged 14.6% year-on-year in 2024, according to Chinese state media.

That trade relationship goes both ways.

“The trip to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia is all about how China can really insulate itself against the from Trump,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, pointing out that since Xi became the president in 2013, he has only visited Vietnam twice.

But the intensification of the trade war has put Vietnam in a “very precarious situation” given the impression in the U.S. that Vietnam is serving as a backdoor for Chinese goods, said Giang. Vietnam had been hit with 46% tariffs under Trump’s order before the 90-day pause.

China and Vietnam have real long-term differences, including territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where Vietnam has faced off with China’s coast guard but does not often publicize the confrontations.

After Vietnam, Xi is expected to go to Malaysia next and then Cambodia.

Wu reported from Bangkok. AP video journalist Hau Dinh contributed to this report.

BEIJING (AP) — China said Tuesday it would “fight to the end” and take countermeasures against the United States to safeguard its own interests after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports.

The Commerce Ministry said the U.S.‘s imposition of “so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’” on China is “completely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practice.”

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has taken retaliatory tariffs and the ministry hinted in its latest statement that more may be coming.

“The countermeasures China has taken are aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintaining the normal international trade order. They are completely legitimate,” the ministry said.

“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the blackmailing nature of the US. China will never accept this. If the US insists on its own way, China will fight to the end,” it added.

Trump’s threat Monday of additional tariffs on China raised fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war. Stock markets from Tokyo to New York have become more unstable as the tariff war worsens.

Trump’s threat came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs he announced last week.

“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”

If Trump implements his new tariffs on Chinese products, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would reach a combined 104%. The new taxes would be on top of the 20% tariffs announced as punishment for fentanyl trafficking and his separate 34% tariffs announced last week. Not only could that increase prices for American consumers, it could also give China an incentive to flood other countries with cheaper goods and seek deeper relationships with other trading partners, particularly the European Union.

Trump frequently bragged about stock market gains during his first term, and the threat of losses on Wall Street was viewed as a potential guardrail on risky economic policies in his second term. But that hasn’t been the case, and Trump has described days of financial pain as necessary.

“I don’t mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end,” he said.

Trump officials have frequently appeared on television to make the case for his policies, but none of their explanations has calmed the markets. The only improvement came from a false report that top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Trump was considering a pause on all tariffs except for China. Stock prices spiked before the White House denied it was true by calling the post “fake news.”

China is one of the U.S.’s top trading partners, especially for consumer goods, and the tariffs — essentially a tax on imports paid by U.S. companies — will eventually be passed on to the consumer.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would focus on trade with other countries besides the United States, saying there are “vast opportunities” elsewhere.

U.S. total goods trade with China were an estimated $582 billion in 2024, making it the top trader in goods with the U.S. The 2024 deficit with China in goods and services trade was between $263 billion and $295 billion.

In Hong Kong, where stocks were slightly higher Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee blasted the latest U.S. tariffs as “bullying,” saying the “ruthless behavior” has damaged global and multilateral trade and brought great risks and uncertainties to the world.

Lee said the city would link its economy closer to China’s development, sign more free trade agreements, attract more foreign companies and capital to Hong Kong, and support local enterprises in coping with the impact of the tariffs.

Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Josh Boak in Washington, Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% import duties on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.

Sheinbaum said she was willing to engage in talks on the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. problem.

“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.

She said Tuesday that Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border.” However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs like the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl — which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China — have weakened in the last year.

Sheinbaum said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the United States, and said the flow of drugs “is a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society.”

Sheinbaum also criticized U.S. spending on weapons, saying the money should instead be spent regionally to address the problem of migration. “If a percentage of what the United States spends on war were dedicated to peace and development, that would address the underlying causes of migration,” she said.

Sheinbaum’s bristly response suggests that Trump faces a much different Mexican president than he did in his first term.

Back in late 2018, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a charismatic, old-school politician who developed a chummy relationship with Trump. The two were eventually able to strike a bargain in which Mexico helped keep migrants away from the border — and received other countries’ deported migrants — and Trump backed down on the threats.

But Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1, is a stern leftist ideologue trained in radical student protest movements, and appears less willing to pacify or mollify Trump.

“We negotiate as equals, there is no subordination here, because we are a great nation,” Sheinbaum said, while adding, “I think we are going to reach an agreement.”

But Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis of the financial group Banco Base, fears the personality clash could escalate things into brinkmanship; Trump clearly hates to lose.

“Trump may have just tossed the threat out there, as he does,” Siller said. “But Mexico’s response, that we’re going to respond to you with tariffs, that will make Trump really impose them.

It’s not clear how serious Trump’s threat is. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement forbids just imposing tariffs on other member countries. And it’s not clear whether the economy could even tolerate sudden levies on imports: Auto plants on both sides of the border rely on each other for parts and components, and some production lines could screech to a halt.

“It is unacceptable and would cause inflation and job losses in Mexico and the United States,” Sheinbaum said, while offering to talk about the issues. “If tariffs go up, who will it hurt? General Motors,” she said.

“Dialogue is the best path to achieve understanding, peace and prosperity for our two countries,” Sheinbaum said. “I hope our teams can meet soon.”

Late Monday, Trump said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.

The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.

Trump made the threats Monday in a pair of posts on his Truth Social site in which he railed against an influx of illegal migrants, even though apprehensions at the southern border have been hovering near four-year lows.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he wrote.

He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power,” he went on, “and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”