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Free trade ‘essential': China's He Lifeng warns Western reshoring threatens supply chains

Free trade ‘essential': China's He Lifeng warns Western reshoring threatens supply chains

China's top trade negotiator has criticised Western efforts to de-risk and reshore manufacturing, presenting the world's second-largest economy as a defender of global stability at a high-profile
supply chain expo in Beijing
Vice-Premier He Lifeng called for a global supply chain system that leverages the comparative advantages of all countries, taking into account their different resource endowments and levels of economic development.
'Some countries are currently intervening in the market in the name of de-risking, using measures such as additional tariffs and restrictions to promote so-called 'manufacturing reshoring',' He said at the opening ceremony of the third China International Supply Chain Expo on Wednesday.
'The redundant development of industrial and supply chains has reduced the overall efficiency of the global economy.'
'Free trade remains an essential requirement for world economic development... There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars.'
Tensions persist between the world's three largest economies – the US, China and the European Union – amid growing uncertainty over the future of global trade.
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