SHANGHAI (DNA) – President Xi Jinping opens a huge Shanghai import fair next week at which armies of Chinese companies will shop for billions of dollars in foreign goods as China seeks to counter charges that its markets aren’t open.

But not everyone is buying it.

China’s trade war adversary, the United States, is pointedly snubbing a gathering that will draw several overseas leaders, and foreign business figures privately dismiss it as a diversion that allows China to delay lifting barriers that protect its markets.

It remains unknown whether Xi will use the China International Import Expo to announce new reforms, but Beijing insists the event already shows its willingness to reduce the surpluses it enjoys with trading partners.

Xi has called it “no ordinary exhibition” and a sign of China “actively opening up markets”.

But the November 5-10 expo also sends another signal: as China pivots from an exports-based economy toward one based on the consumer buying power of its 1.4 billion people, other countries will need to play ball if they want a piece of that action.

“It’s China saying ‘we are an increasingly important import market, and you’re welcome to deal with us,” said Gary Liu, president of the China Financial Reform Institute.

“But if you want to start a trade war, then we can just trade with other countries.”