China's Xi eyes role as global defender of free trade as Trump embraces protectionism

'Dividing an interdependent world is going back in history,' Xi said in a speech at the APEC CEO Summit in Peru

As Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs on the entire world, Xi Jinping is once again wasting no time in positioning himself as the premier defender of the international trading system.

China’s leader warned on Friday that the global economy was fracturing as protectionism spreads, leading to “severe challenges.” The world, he declared, had “entered a new period of turbulence and change.”