Xi Jinping's new love of imports leaves long road to trade balance

Chinese President Xi Jinping has a long road ahead of him if his goal is to reduce his nation’s goods trade surplus by buying more from abroad. Set to address the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on November 5, Xi is putting his personal stamp on an event geared to demonstrate China’s willingness to open its economy.

China is under pressure from Donald Trump and elsewhere to wind back its $423 billion goods trade surplus, and Xi has already pledged that China will import $24 trillion dollars of goods from abroad over the next decade and a half.

Some 3,000 companies from over 100 countries are due to exhibit at the fair and 18 heads of state or government are slated to attend. That the event is happening at a time when China is facing higher tariffs on all of its goods sent to the US increases its importance, as the global economy is facing an escalating growth-sapping trade war with little resolution in sight.

A politburo meeting Xi chaired, indicated that more stimulus is being planned to shore up a slowing economy battered by a domestic debt cleanup and the trade war with the US.