Pekín está utilizando una mezcla de castigos e incentivos en un intento por evitar que otros países se pongan del lado de Estados Unidos para aislar a China.
Xi Jinping is in Southeast Asia to build bonds with countries that also face U.S. tariffs and have come under pressure from Washington to curb the transshipment of Chinese goods.
China’s leader is on a charm offensive in the region, but some of Beijing’s neighbors are wary of being caught in the crossfire of a superpower rivalry.
The company moved most of its manufacturing to Vietnam from China to avoid tariffs. But the unpredictability of President Trump’s plans has thrown Nintendo for a loop.
The administration says foreign governments are racing to the United States to negotiate, but exactly which countries might strike a deal — and over what — remains unclear.
Southeast Asian leaders, their export-driven economies in peril, are trying to placate the president. “We may have to comply,” Thailand’s finance minister said.
In recent years Vietnam has forged strategic and economic links with the United States, its former foe, making the steep tariff rate all the more of a shock.