China warns of 'serious hazard' of protectionism at WEF meeting

China warned Wednesday that protectionism poses a "serious hazard" to growth and cautioned "individual countries" against isolationism, in a veiled reference to the deepening trade spat between Washington and Beijing.

The comments from China's vice premier comes as the world's top two economic powers edged closer to an all-out trade war after imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars of imports.

Tensions were heightened last week when President Donald Trump threatened to hit all China's exports to the US, worth more than USD 500 billion as he doubles down on "America First" agenda he says aims to protect jobs and industries from overseas competition.

But without directly naming Trump or the United States, Hu Chunhua warned on Wednesday against countries going it alone and upending the globalised trading system.

"Some individual countries' protectionist and unilateral measures are gravely undermining the rules-based multilateral trading regime, posing a most serious hazard to the world economy," Hu said at the World Economic Forum in Hanoi.

"Self-isolation will lead nowhere and only openness for all represents the right way forward," he added.

The escalating trade spat between Washington and Beijing is being closely watched in Southeast Asia where some export-focused economies may be set to gain from the fallout.

Rising labour costs in China have already precipitated a push into countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia where Adidas shoes, H&M T-shirts and Samsung phones are made on the cheap.

But the trade war has accelerated that process, with several Chinese firms turning to the region to produce items from bike parts to mattresses in a bid to avoid the US tariffs.

"ASEAN countries don't want to count their chickens before they hatch," Fred Burke, managing partner at Baker McKenzie in Vietnam, told AFP.

"But I think they see it on a net basis as a gain for them because it means shifting manufacturing into Southeast Asia that was... (earlier) in China."