Chinese president defends globalization, free trade

China’s president is pushing back against those arguing that globalization has crippled economies and exacerbated social problems, arguing it instead has fueled growth around the world.

“There’s no point in blaming economic globalization for the world’s problems, as that is simply not the case, and it will not help solve the problems,” Xi Jinping said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “From the historical perspective, economic globalization results from growing social productivity and is the natural outcome of scientific and technological advances.”

While Xi did not mention U.S. President-elect Donald Trump by name, his defense of globalization on Tuesday was a clear rebuke to the more protectionist rhetoric employed by Trump, who has advocated for “America first” policies and has promised to bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S., while levying high tariffs on goods made abroad.

{mosads}”Pursuing protectionism is just like locking one’s self in a dark room. Wind and rain might be kept outside, but so are light and air,” Xi said. He also argued that “no one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.”

Tensions between the U.S. and China have worsened since Trump’s election in November. Last month the president-elect accepted a controversial phone call from the Taiwanese president, breaking decades of diplomatic protocol between the U.S. and China. And last week, Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the “One China” policy, a cornerstone of U.S.-China relations, was “under negotiation.”