China will remove foreign ownership limits on securities and insurance companies in 2020, one year ahead of schedule, and will roll out necessary measures to shore up the nation's slowing economy, Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday.

Amid China's trade tensions with the United States, Li also called for a response to the rise of protectionism in a speech at a World Economic Forum meeting in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian.

Affirming China's commitment to free trade and multilateralism, Li said, "China would like to work with other countries to steer globalization in the right direction."

To create a better environment for foreign investors, he pledged that China will further open up to the world and ease more regulations by the end of this year

China said Sunday it will relax restrictions on foreign investment in the Chinese market in areas including oil and gas exploration, as well as the service sector.

Li said the Chinese leadership will look at introducing a suite of tax cuts in order to drive economic growth.

Although Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump agreed Saturday to restart trade negotiations in hopes of resolving the tit-for-tat conflict between the world's two largest economies, a final deal is not expected to be struck any time soon.