Trade was top of the agenda at our Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, as news broke of a further escalation in the tit-for-tat trade war between the world's two largest economies, the US and China.

Politicians, business leaders and academics all had their say on the rift that is sending ripples through the global economy.

Here's a round-up of some of the key quotes:

"The rules-based multilateral trading system is the bedrock of economic globalization and free trade, and provides important safeguards for win-win outcomes. The authority and efficacy of the system should be respected and protected. Some WTO rules do need to be improved. The right approach is for all to sit down as equals to find solutions.

"The fundamental principles of free trade should be upheld, the interests and concerns of all parties be accommodated, and the broadest possible consensus on reform be built up. Taking a unilateralist approach will not solve any problems." - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang


"We are not happy with the US-China trade frictions but ... you need to plan for the next 20 years. Whatever the US will do, we will have our solutions, based on our principles. No matter what you say, how angry you are, President Trump doesn't know about that.

"What you can change is the things you plan and you choose to do. Of course, you are in a lousy outlook, but that is the same for your competitors as well. You have financing problems, so do your competitors. You don't need to do a zillion things, but you need to do something right." - Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group


"Talk is cheap. Actions are what matter ... I hope that both sides come to the table and action follows words." - Todd Rokita, member of the United States House of Representatives


"If you think about the WTO [World Trade Organization], the last time the rules were really updated in what we call a big multilateral trading round was over 25 years ago. The internet was barely around then ... China wasn't even part of the WTO then. And so as a result, we see the WTO today really becoming increasingly on the sidelines of what is going on. And frankly if it does not deal with the need to really update the rules and figure out a way to become relevant, it may even slip into the background more. And that is dangerous.

"It's a really worrying situation and it's starting to spill over into other parts of our interconnected world. It's not just limited to the countries retaliating against each other ... Both sides will need to show flexibility, so the US can't just insist that China just dismantle its industrial policy, but China can't deny that these policies harm its trading partners." - Wendy Cutler, Vice-president, Asia Society Policy Institute


"The analogy I use is football. One team shows up on one side of the field; they are the World Cup champions. And on the other side of the field you have the Super Bowl champions. They're both there to play football but they have very different ideas ... each team plays a very good game but the rules they play are designed to showcase different skill sets.

"The World Cup football team is very agile, they move very quickly, they adjust rapidly. The American football team is more deliberate - every play is planned, every player on the field has a coordinated role, they wear protective gear. Basically the US and Chinese economies are like these two teams, playing on the same field." - Timothy P. Stratford, Managing Partner, Covington & Burling


“The trade war with China is not only affecting China and the US, it is affecting everybody … these kinds of decisions are impacting all of the world – and it should not be the right of one person to decide.” - Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba


"President Trump, as you know, is a businessman .... and these types of negotiation tactics he is using in politics, usually they will work because the other side will give in in the end. And President Trump knows that time is short, it can't be a long-run thing.

"On a certain level he's going to have to figure out how to get out of this by having his staff negotiate with Chinese experts to come to some kind of understanding ... I don't think he is going to just keep on going until both sides come into a big disagreement and get into a really serious situation." - Jiro Tamura Professor of Law, Keio University

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