Starbucks can promote US-China trade, Chinese President Xi Jinping says in letter to its ex-boss

Name: Trump and Xi trade barbs over Covid-19 as world leaders voice fears at UN’s 75th General Assembly
Uploaded: 2021-01-15T06:27:47.000Z
Duration: 3 min 2 s
Description: Trump and Xi trade barbs over Covid-19 as world leaders voice fears at UN’s 75th General Assembly

State media prints Xi’s letter to coffee chain’s former chairman Howard Schultz

Xi says China will ‘further open up to enterprises’ and hopes ‘Starbucks can play an active role in promoting US-China trade cooperation’

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Former Starbucks chairman and chief executive Howard Schultz said he hoped for further success for the chain in China. Photo: AP

Kinling Lo

Published: 2:27pm, 15 Jan 2021Updated: 11:27pm, 15 Jan 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping has told Starbucks’ former chairman Howard Schultz that he and the American coffee chain can play an active role in promoting US-China trade cooperation, state media reported.

With less than a week before US president-elect Joe Biden takes office, Chinese state media published a letter Xi wrote, reportedly in reply to correspondence from Schultz, who has the honorary title of Starbucks’ chairman emeritus.

The coverage of the letter on Thursday came almost exactly a year after a partial trade deal between the two nations was signed in an effort to pause their tariff war.

Xi’s letter, dated January 6, was quoted by Chinese state news agency Xinhua as saying: “China has embarked on the journey of becoming a modernised socialist country, [we] will further open up to enterprises all over the world including American companies like Starbucks. [We] hope Starbucks can play an active role in promoting US-China trade cooperation and bilateral ties.”

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Trump and Xi trade barbs over Covid-19 as world leaders voice fears at UN’s 75th General Assembly

CNN reported that Schultz had sent the Chinese president a letter emphasising Starbucks’ commitment to China, enclosing a translated copy of his book From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America.