China's Xi announces plans to 'open' China, including lowering tariffs on imported autos
- Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the Boao Forum for Asia on Tuesday.
- He discussed plans to further open up the Chinese economy, including "significantly" lowering import tariffs for autos, decreasing duties on other products, enforcing the legal intellectual property of foreign firms and improving the investment environment for international companies.
Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed plans to further open up the Chinese economy during a Tuesday address.
Those measures included "significantly" lowering import tariffs for autos, decreasing duties on other products, enforcing the legal intellectual property of foreign firms and improving the investment environment for international companies.
Xi's address â from the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual summit that's been dubbed the "Asian Davos" â comes amid escalating trade tensions between China and the U.S. as the world's two largest economies take turns announcing punitive trade measures against each other.
In his speech, Xi said China will take the initiative to expand imports this year and "work hard" to import products that are required by the population.
"China does not seek trade surplus. We have a genuine desire to increase imports and achieve greater balance of international payments under the current account," Xi said, according to a translation of the speech.
