China's President Xi Jinping called on Monday for stronger ties with Vietnam on trade and supply chains amid disruptions caused by U.S. tariffs, as he attended the signing in Hanoi of dozens of cooperation agreements between the two communist-run nations.

China’s leader Xi Jinping started a week of diplomacy in Southeast Asia with a visit to Vietnam, signaling China’s commitment to global trade.

In the first three months of this year Hanoi imported goods worth about $30 billion from Beijing while its exports to Washington amounted to $31.4 billion, Vietnam's customs data show.