Davos: China's Xi says no one will win trade war

Chinese President Xi Jinping presented himself as a champion of globalization on Jan. 17, lecturing the world elite in Davos on the dangers of protectionism and the futility of trade wars.

The leader of the world's second largest economy became the first Chinese president to address the World Economic Forum, where 3,000 well-heeled delegates from government, business, science and the arts have gathered.

His appearance comes as populist protectionism is on the rise across Europe and in the U.S., where November's election of Donald Trump sent shockwaves through the global liberal order.

There is "no point in blaming economic globalization for the world's problems," he said, saying that the process was not at the root of the Syrian refugee situation or the 2008 financial crisis.

"It's true that economic globalization has created new problems, but this is not justification to write off economic globalization altogether."   

Globalization should be "more inclusive, more sustainable," he said, adding that currently existing global institutions are "inadequate" and should be more "representative."
   
Xi's speech was highly anticipated by Davos attendees, a global club who have been caught off-guard by the rising sentiment against liberal trade regimes, and are looking for guidance in the face of an incoming Trump administration in Washington.

While acknowledging that globalization was a "double-edged sword," Xi argued that the benefits far outweighed the negatives and there could be no turning away from international economic integration.

"The global economy is a big ocean you cannot escape from," he said, likening goods, services and capital to waters that cannot be channeled back into landlocked...