Xi’s Genius Plan to Empower Consumers, With John Wick
Boosting domestic consumption is China’s top economic priority this year. Here’s how to do it without triggering a fiscal crisis.
Keanu Reeves in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’
Photographer: Murray Close/MoviepixChina’s President Xi Jinping has finally realized that in a global trade war, the economy with the most powerful consumer base wins.
Boosting domestic consumption is the government’s top economic priority this year, as Premier Li Qiang made clear at this week’s National People’s Congress. In 2024, consumer spending contributed to only about 30% of economic growth, versus 68% at the onset of 2018, when US President Donald Trump started his first trade war. Most of the 5% expansion came from exports, which makes the nation vulnerable to new tariffs imposed by Washington and the likes of Mexico, where Chinese companies are relocating for easier access to American end users.