In Shanghai, a major import fair against a backdrop of trade tensions between China and its partners

Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang speaks during the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo, in Shanghai, November 5, 2024. AGATHA CANTRILL/AFP In the west of Shanghai, the gigantism of National Exhibition Center, one of the largest in the world, must serve a political message: the door is not closed. The flower beds, the decoration of the site’s endless paths, whose architecture seen from the sky evokes a four-leaf clover: everything was ready to welcome visitors and officials at the China International Import Expo, the great trade fair. imports which opened on Tuesday, November 5, and will close its doors on Sunday. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers China in search of economic recovery Read later At a time when its commercial practices are under fire in the United States and Europe but also in a number of emerging countries, China is dangling the rest of the planet the depth of its internal market, which would still carry promises and opportunities. “China will continue to open its doors to the outside world, regardless of changes in the international context,” Prime Minister Li Qiang told business leaders on Monday, on the eve of the opening. present at the exhibition, including General Electric and pharmaceutical giant MSD. This import fair was created in 2018 by Chinese President Xi Jinping to show a different side of China than that of the world’s factory – that embodied by the famous Canton Fair, which has become a symbol of the rise in power industrial economy of the country and the jobs it has cost elsewhere on the planet. Complex situation with the United States This year, the Shanghai event opens, while the Chinese economic slowdown – and, in particular, the reluctance of consumers worried about the future – is causing doubts among many foreign companies. To dispel these doubts, the assembly of the Chinese Communist Party is meeting in Beijing until Friday, November 8, and must validate an economic recovery plan. But a certain number of analysts believe that the latter will first be devoted to bailing out provinces, cities and other local authorities weighed down by their massive investments in infrastructure and support for a real estate market in crisis for four years. These measures will therefore probably benefit less directly to households and therefore to consumption. Moreover, the American presidential election on Tuesday, November 5, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, is cause for great concern from China. Whoever wins, Beijing will find itself in a complex trade situation with the United States. Kamala Harris could pose as a continuation of Joe Biden’s administration, which imposed a 100% tax on the import of Chinese electric vehicles, increasing restrictions on the export of technologies, including microchips, to China . As for Donald Trump, he threatened during the campaign to impose 60% customs duties on all Chinese products – a measure which, if it materialized, would seriously hit factories in Xi Jinping’s country. You have 41.7% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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