New York Times Says China the Star at Davos, Belt and Road Could Be New WTO

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America’s newspaper of record says that China may have been the real star at the recent World Economic Forum at Davos, due to jitters over the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive trade policies.

According to the New York Times, the pro-globalist position touted by Chinese representative Liu He in the face of an increasingly protectionist stance on the part of the Trump administration gave China the opportunity to bolster its credential as a world leader.

“Chinese officials used Davos as another opportunity to speak out against protectionism, in what analysts have described as an effort to take advantage of global concerns about the Trump administration and its warning that it would pursue a more aggressive trade policy,” wrote business report Keith Bradsher.

“China has zero tariffs on many raw materials that it has in only limited quantities at home, like iron ore.

“As a result, its stance has been particularly welcomed by countries like Chile that produce a lot of raw materials but relatively few factory goods.”

According to Bradsher the event also gave China the opportunity to promote its Belt and Road initiative, which seeks to create a huge trade bloc spanning much of the eurasian continent.

“The China One Belt, One road is going to be the new WTO – like it or not,” said Joe Kaeser, chief executive of Siemens.