Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, met with executives of Saudi Aramco, BMW, Toyota Motor, FedEx and dozens of other foreign companies at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday as China seeks to boost foreign investment amid worsening trade relations between China and the United States.

周五，中国最高领导人习近平在北京人民大会堂会见了沙特阿美、宝马、丰田汽车、联邦快递等数十家外国企业的高管。中美贸易关系恶化之际，中国正努力吸引外资。

It was the third time that Mr. Xi has met with executives of multinationals in the past 17 months, courting investment as sluggish growth and tightening national security laws have made global companies wary of making big bets in China.

这是习近平在17个月内第三次与跨国公司高管会面，以期吸引投资。中国经济增长低迷，而跨国公司也因国家安全法规趋紧对在华进行大规模投资愈发谨慎。

More than 40 executives attended Friday’s meeting, including Amin Nasser of Saudi Aramco, Oliver Zipse of BMW, Akio Toyoda of Toyota, Ola Källenius of Mercedes-Benz, Lee Jae-yong of Samsung and Raj Subramaniam of FedEx, as well as the heads of the global shipping company Maersk, the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix and the pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Sanofi.

超过40位企业高管出席了周五的会面，包括沙特阿美首席执行官阿敏·纳瑟、宝马首席执行官奥利弗·齐普策、丰田汽车会长丰田章男、梅赛德斯-奔驰首席执行官康林松(Ola Källenius)、三星会长李在镕以及联邦快递首席执行官拉吉·苏布拉马尼亚姆。全球航运公司马士基、日本企业集团日立、韩国半导体制造商SK海力士以及制药巨头辉瑞和赛诺菲的负责人也出席了会议。

Mr. Xi urged the executives to maintain the stability of global supply chains and said China held great potential for investors, according to Chinese state media.

据中国官方媒体报道，习近平在会上敦促企业高管维护全球供应链的稳定，并表示中国对投资者来说仍具有巨大潜力。

Fresh foreign investment in China has dropped substantially over the past several years. One exception is the German automotive industry, which sees China, the world’s largest car market, as a place to try to compete with increasingly formidable domestic automakers.

近年来，外国对华新投资大幅下降。但德国汽车行业是个例外。德国车企希望能在中国这个全球最大的汽车市场与实力日益增强的本土车企竞争。

German automakers represented half of new investments from the European Union last year, according to Rhodium Group, a consulting firm. BMW has upped its stake in a Chinese joint venture, and this week announced it would use artificial intelligence technology developed with Chinese tech giant Alibaba in its in-car assistant.

咨询公司荣鼎集团的数据显示，德国汽车制造商贡献了去年欧盟对华新投资的一半。宝马已增持其在华合资企业的股份，并在本周宣布其车载辅助系统将采用与中国科技巨头阿里巴巴合作开发的人工智能技术。

宝马首席执行官奥利弗·齐普策（左）与丰田汽车会长丰田章男，两人均在参加这次会面的高管之列。

A huge new electric car factory by Volkswagen in central China was one of the few new manufacturing facilities built by foreign firms in China last year. Volkswagen has also purchased a small stake in a Chinese automaker, Xpeng, as part of an approach it describes as “in China, for China.”

德国大众汽车在中国中部建设了一座大型电动车工厂，这是去年外国企业在华兴建的少数制造基地之一。作为其“在中国，为中国”战略的一部分，大众还收购了中国汽车制造商小鹏汽车的少量股份。

The meeting with Mr. Xi came four days after the China Development Forum, an annual economic and finance event attended by global executives. Tim Cook of Apple, Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group and executives from AstraZeneca, Cargill, Pfizer and FedEx, among others, were in Beijing to attend the forum along with the presidents of dozens of Chinese companies.

习近平会见外国企业高管的四天前，北京举办了中国发展高层论坛。该论坛是一个年度经济与金融盛会，苹果公司首席执行官蒂姆·库克、黑石集团首席执行官苏世民以及阿斯利康、嘉吉、辉瑞、联邦快递等全球企业的高管都出席了论坛。与会者还包括数十家中国公司的总裁。

Speaking at the forum, Mr. Källenius of Mercedes-Benz talked about how his company had invested in Chinese engineering, including $2 billion spent in China on a long-wheelbase electric car.

在论坛上，梅赛德斯-奔驰公司的康林松谈到了公司在中国工程领域的投资，包括斥资20亿美元研发一款长轴距电动车。

China tapped $116 billion in foreign investment last year, down from $163 billion the preceding year and a peak of $189 billion in 2022, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. Much of that money comes from the reinvestment of profits from existing operations.

根据中国商务部的数据，2024年中国吸引外资1160亿美元，低于前年的1630亿美元和2022年的峰值1890亿美元。这些投资的资金大部分来自已有业务取得的利润。

周一，北京，中国副总理何立峰（右）会见黑石集团主席苏世民。

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have discouraged American companies from making new investments.

华盛顿与北京之间的紧张关系使得美国企业在华投资趋于谨慎。

Ever-tightening national security laws have discouraged some investors. Five Chinese employees of the Mintz Group, an American corporate consulting firm, were released after two years in detention, the firm said this week. Firms like the Mintz Group that do research or due diligence for corporations have mostly pulled out of China, leaving multinationals without the support they need to check whether potential investments will face legal, environmental or political issues.

中国不断收紧的国家安全法规也让一些投资者望而却步。本周，美国咨询公司美思明智表示，其五名中国员工在被拘留两年后获释。美思明智这样的公司通常为企业提供市场调研或尽职调查服务，但如今已基本撤出中国，导致跨国企业难以评估潜在投资的法律、环境或政治风险。

Another problem for foreign businesses in China, according to surveys by foreign chambers of commerce, is the deteriorating domestic market. Many industries suffer from severe overcapacity and falling prices. The potential to make a profit from new investments is limited.

根据外国商会的调查，外国企业在中国面临的另一大挑战是国内市场的恶化。许多行业产能严重过剩，价格不断下跌，使得新投资的盈利空间有限。