China was willing to work with the European Union to resist protectionism, the country’s economy tsar told the bloc’s trade chief, in an invitation to join forces in pushing back against mounting threats of trade tariffs from the US.
China was also willing to work with the EU to safeguard the global multilateral trading system, Vice Premier He Lifeng told Maros Sefcovic, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, as they met in Beijing, State-run Xinhua news agency reported on March 27.
Both China and EU have seen their relations with the US sour over its President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed 20 per cent additional tariffs on all Chinese imports.
On March 26, he said he would impose new tariffs on imported vehicles in a move that would batter European automakers, particularly German car producers, which count on the US for almost 25 per cent of their vehicle exports.
“We have mutual interest in addressing our bilateral and global issues as well as our differences,” Sefcovic wrote in an X post about his meeting with He.
The EU should safeguard its interests and make the “rational choice” of turning further towards China, given the uncertainty generated by the new administration in the US, China’s State-run Global Times wrote in an editorial published late on March 26.
“As the uncertainty of US policy increases, China, as a major global power, is becoming increasingly prominent for its stability and reliability,” the nationalist tabloid wrote.
Yet the EU also has concerns about its economic ties with China, its second-largest trading partner, including the bloc’s complaints about a lack of reciprocal access to procurement opportunities, market access barriers and issues related to cross-border data transfers.
“We need to tangibly rebalance our trade and investment relations,” Sefcovic said in his X post.
The Chinese Vice Premier said his country was willing to strengthen dialogue and handle economic and trade differences.
The Chinese readout of their meeting gave no details on what moves it might make to narrow those differences.
