The leader of China, Xi Jinping, is visiting some other countries in Asia this week. He is talking about free trade. He says China can be a place that is strong and sure when things are not clear.

Xi visited Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia. A U.S. official named Sean O'Neill will also visit Vietnam, Cambodia, and Japan this week. He will go to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Siem Reap in Cambodia, and Tokyo.

China is also showing that it wants to trade more with countries other than the US. It does this at different trade shows where it shows how big its market is and how good it is at making things.

China's economy grew by 5% in 2024. Selling goods to other countries helped this growth. This year, the government wants the economy to grow by about 5% again.

Sheng Laiyun said the taxes will make China's economy a little difficult for a short time, but they will not stop it from growing in the future. He also said that China now sells less to the US than it did five years ago.

China's economy is strong and can handle problems. We are sure that we can deal with challenges from outside and reach our goals, Sheng said.

From January to March, the economy grew by 1.2%. This is slower than the 1.6% growth in the last three months of 2024.

Companies in China sent out many products in March. This was 12% more than last year.

Stephen Innes said that this happened early. It was because people bought things quickly before the US put more taxes on them. Also, people in the US who bring in goods bought a lot to be ready.

In the last three months, factories made 6.5% more things than last year. This happened mainly because they made almost 11% more machines and tools.

Making things like battery and hybrid cars grew a lot, 45.4% more than last year. Making 3D printers increased by almost 45%, and making factory robots went up by 26%.

China's economy grew fast compared to other countries, but it has been slow to get strong again after the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems with houses have made more people lose their jobs, so families are careful about spending money.

Prices for things people buy went down a little (0.1%) at the start of the year. This means people are not buying as much as companies are making. Also, people did not put much money into houses and land. This was almost 10% less than last year, even though the government tried to help people get loans to buy homes.

A problem with taxes on goods is coming. China wants companies to invest and hire more people, and Chinese people to spend more money.

Economists in companies and the government are still careful about what will happen, because Trump keeps changing his ideas about the trade war.

It is hard to know how the taxes between the US and China will change because of what happened recently, said Tao Wang and other economists from UBS.

The International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank think the economy will grow by about 4.6% this year.

When Trump became president, he first put a 10% tax on many things from China. Later, he made this tax 20%. Now, China has to pay a 145% tax on many things it sells to the United States.

UBS thinks that if the taxes stay the same, China will sell much less to the US soon. They think sales could go down a lot, by two-thirds. They also think China's total sales to all countries could go down by 10% in money value. They now think the economy will grow by 3.4% this year, not 4%. They think growth will be slower in 2026, about 3%.

China has worked harder to encourage people to spend more and businesses to invest more in the last seven months. They have given more money to help people buy new cars and appliances, and also more money for houses and other businesses that need help.