Leaders call on US to move away from confrontation

Facing the prospects of an escalation in China-United States trade disagreements, the world should work together to persuade Washington to refrain from unilateral moves, former political leaders urged at an international conference on Monday.

"Our main objective is trying to convince the Trump administration that this is not the best way to solve differences, neither between the US and China, neither between the US and Europe and the rest of the world," said Dominique de Villepin, former French prime minister, on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for Interconnected Land-Sea Development held in Chongqing.

US President Donald Trump "considers every single competitor around the world might be a rival or a strategic enemy, and that has explained some of the decisions he has taken recently, for example on Mexico and the European Union".