China chose a new main person for international trade talks on Wednesday. This happened because of disagreements about taxes on goods with the U.S.

The government said Li Chenggang will replace Wang Shouwen. Wang Shouwen was in the trade talks between China and the U.S. in 2020.

The two biggest economies in the world have been putting more taxes on each other's products.

On Wednesday, China said its economy grew by 5.4% from January to March. This was because they sold a lot of goods to other countries. But experts think the economy will grow more slowly soon. This is because America will add taxes on things it buys from China.

China's economy grew by 5% in 2024 because they sold many things to other countries. The government hopes it will grow by about 5% again this year.

China has put a big extra tax on goods from America after the U.S. did something similar.

Sheng Laiyun, who works for China's National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters that the new taxes will make things harder for China's economy for a short time, but they will not stop it from growing in the future.

People didn't know why China was changing the people who talk about trade. This happened when China said it had different ways to answer the U.S. For example, China can use its big market with 1.4 billion people. It can also work with Europe and countries in the southern part of the world. But people in China are not buying much in their own country. So it will be hard to find a buyer as good as the U.S.

China also made it more difficult to export rare earths. These are materials used in advanced products, making airplanes, and for the military.

Before his new job, Li was China's ambassador to the World Trade Organization for about four and a half years. This group helps countries trade with each other. Beijing asked the group for help with its problem with the U.S. about taxes on goods.

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

He also worked as an assistant minister in the Ministry of Commerce. He was also the head of the department for agreements and law there.

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