World trade
Forum with BMW, Apple and Co.: Does China use the US vacuum?
Dozens of board members of global corporations follow an invitation of China to Beijing. There the government stirs the advertising drum vigorously. But there is a big topic over the meeting.
In view of growing trade voltages with the USA, China promoted as a safe location at a meeting with dozens of group board members from Germany and the world. Due to increasing economic fragmentation and uncertainty in the world, it is mandatory for every country to open its markets, said Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing. “A decoupling and interruption of the supply chains will only make the crisis worse,” he said.
Li emphasized that in addition to important Chinese ministers, Li emphasized that a return to the “law of the jungle” was a “tragedy for humanity” in front of board members such as Tim Cook (Apple), Roland Busch (Siemens), Oliver Zipse (BMW) or Ola Källenius (Mercedes-Benz). China has nothing against competition as long as it runs on a regular basis and does not serve to hold back others, said Li.
German CEOs demand less barriers
Siemens boss Busch said in a short speech that the global economy was in a “massive conversion”. With high -tech and high efficiency, China gave an answer where growth came from, said Busch, and referred to Deepseek artificial intelligence as an example.
BMW boss Zipse emphasized in view of the pressure through trade constraints to be against protectionism. He referred to the lawsuit of the Munich company against the EU in the case of tariffs Brüssels on electric cars produced in China. Mercedes-Benz board member Källenius also referred to such a lawsuit by his group. He emphasized that the opening of the markets was the recipe for success. There is a lot to win in a cooperation between Germany and China. Barriers would have to be dismantled and negotiation solutions found, Källenius demanded.
Does China vacuum fill the USA?
Outside the conference hall, a lot was about the role of the United States this year, which undercut a customs dispute with Beijing under President Donald Trump. According to Martin Sorrell, CEO of the marketing company S4 Capital based in London, Li made it “quite clear that China fills the gap that leaves America”. In the past, the forum was more dominated by Americans, today more by the Europeans, said Sorrell, who claims to have been participating for years.
The event, the China Development Forum, is an annual summit, in which bosses of domestic and foreign companies in Beijing meet with top Chinese politicians as well as associations and experts. China is an enormously important sales market for many corporations, but a weak demand in the second largest economy in the world has recently sparked the business.
dpa
Source: Stern
