Xi Jinping has appealed to Vietnam to join China in upholding multilateral trade, as he begins a high-stakes diplomatic tour of the region’s major export-reliant economies in a bid to position his country as a stable partner in contrast to the United States.

Chinese President Xi Jinping signed dozens of cooperation agreements with Vietnam on Monday in a bid to deepen regional economic

Although President Trump has paused some tariffs, China was the outlier, as he has kept in place 145 percent tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy.