China chose a new main person for international trade talks on Wednesday because of trade problems with the U.S.

The government said Li Chenggang will take the place of Wang Shouwen. Wang Shouwen helped with the trade deal between China and the U.S. in 2020.

The two biggest economies in the world have been putting more taxes on things they sell to each other. This started after the U.S. put higher taxes on goods from many countries. China has to pay a 145% tax on things it sells to the U.S. But other countries did not have to pay most taxes for 90 days.

On Wednesday, China said its economy grew by 5.4% at the start of the year. This happened because they sold many things to other countries. But experts think the economy will grow much slower soon. This is because of new taxes on goods from China that go to the US.

China grew by 5% in 2024, helped a lot by selling things to other countries, and China wants to grow by about 5% again this year.

China put a 125% extra tax on some products from the U.S. China also said it wants to keep its markets open for trade and investment.

Sheng Laiyun, a spokesperson for China's statistics office, said that the new taxes will make China's economy a little weaker now, but they won't stop it from growing in the future.

It was not clear why China changed the people for the talks. This change happened when Chinese officials said they had other ways to answer the US. They could use their own large market with 1.4 billion people. They could also work with Europe and countries in the south. But people in China are not buying much. So, it will be hard to find someone to buy things instead of Americans.

China also stopped selling some special materials, called rare earths, to other countries. People use these materials to make advanced technology, airplanes, and weapons.

Before his new job, Li worked for about four and a half years as China's representative at the World Trade Organization. This group manages trade around the world, and China has asked them for help with its problem about taxes on goods from the U.S.

He also worked for China at the United Nations in Geneva and for other international groups in Switzerland.

He also worked as an assistant minister at the Ministry of Commerce. He was also in charge of the department for agreements and laws there.

Li studied law at Peking University in China and economics of law at the University of Hamburg.