Beijing woos global executives as FDI slides, trade tensions build

BEIJING: Chinese trade officials are stepping up a charm offensive as Beijing seeks to assure global business leaders of the economy’s long-term prospects despite a consumer slump and renewed trade tensions, meeting as many as three foreign executives early this week.

Since February, China’s commerce minister, vice commerce ministers and trade representatives welcomed at least 10 executives from multinational companies including Airbus, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Honeywell and Swire.

The frequency of the meetings picked up towards the end of February after official data showed foreign direct investment (FDI) plummeted 27.1 per cent in local currency terms in 2024 from the year earlier, the most since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The meetings also came as tit-for-tat tariffs with the US escalated, showing Beijing’s eagerness to mend relations with global business leaders to fend off disruptions sparked by tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. In particular, six of the 11 companies are headquartered in the United States. The others are European, British and Australian multinationals.

“A stable, healthy and sustainable China-US economic and trade relationship is in the fundamental interest of both countries, and also benefits global companies,” Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told PepsiCo Chairman Ramon Laguarta on Tuesday.

“The essence of economic and trade relations between China and the US is mutual benefit and win-win,” according to a ministry statement on Wednesday.

Wang Wentao, the commerce minister, met Airbus’s CEO Guillaume Faury and Swire Group’s CEO Merlin Swire on Monday. He also met Christopher

Boerner, board chair and CEO of the American biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb on March 10, and Michael Voigt, CEO of German spice and condiment producer Hela Group on March 4.

Wang Shouwen, vice commerce minister and China’s international trade representative, met Kellie Parker, Rio Tinto’s Australia chief executive, on March 13, Visa’s Group President Oliver Jenkyn on February 28, and Jon Moeller, P&G’s chairman, president and CEO on February 25.

Some CEOs, including those of PepsiCo, Airbus, Swire Group, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Germany’s Hela Group,

made pledges to boost investment in China during the meetings, according to summaries of the talks released by the ministry. Others reiterated their confidence in China’s economy and market.

As China concluded its annual parliamentary session earlier this month, the government vowed to “vigorously boost” consumption in an economy facing persistently sluggish household demand and a protracted property crisis. Beijing is set to host an annual flagship development conference this month, attracting dozens of foreign CEOs, with some of them expected to meet President Xi Jinping.