{"id":30632,"date":"2026-05-04T12:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/30632\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:45:12","slug":"opinion-made-in-europe-law-sets-stage-for-an-economic-showdown-with-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/30632\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | \u2018Made in Europe\u2019 law sets stage for an economic showdown with China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the trade war with the United States, the last thing China needs is an economic confrontation with the European Union \u2013 Beijing\u2019s major export destination. But with the EU seemingly determined to protect its market by introducing measures that many see as controversial, an economic stand-off appears inevitable.<\/p>\n

When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen blamed China<\/a> last June for showing an \u201cunwillingness to live within the constraints of the rules-based international system\u201d, it was a clear indication that the 27-nation bloc was dissatisfied with relations with Beijing. In 2024, the EU imposed tariffs of up to 35.3 per cent<\/a> on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), citing unfair state subsidies that allow China to position itself as a key player in the European car market.Although Brussels and Beijing agreed<\/a> in January to take steps towards resolving their dispute, things have not returned to normal. The European Commission is pushing a \u201cMade in Europe\u201d law \u2013 formally known as the Industrial Accelerator Act<\/a> \u2013 designed to bolster local industries against competition from China. The legislation also aims to strengthen the EU\u2019s industrial base in response to rising global economic rivalry and a growing reliance on non-EU suppliers in key sectors.<\/p>\n

China, however, sees Brussels\u2019 initiative as institutional discrimination. It has urged the EU to remove what it sees as discriminatory requirements against foreign investors, local content requirements, mandatory intellectual property and technology transfer requirements, and public procurement restrictions from the legislation.<\/p>\n

From a Chinese perspective, the EU\u2019s move can certainly be regarded as discrimination. But non-EU European countries may also have grounds to view it as unfair treatment.<\/p>\n

French liberal Christophe Grudler, a member of the European Parliament, will lead negotiations on the Made in Europe law. He argues that it should include closely integrated countries such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. But what about the Balkan nations that have spent decades in the EU\u2019s \u201ceternal waiting room\u201d, hoping to join the bloc? And why does Made in Europe not include countries such as Ukraine, Moldova or Belarus?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

09:10<\/p>\n

Can the Middle East war turbocharge China\u2019s global EV ambitions?<\/p>\n

Can the Middle East war turbocharge China\u2019s global EV ambitions?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid the trade war with the United States, the last thing China needs is an economic confrontation with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[276,300,81,39,256,40,226,8075,5292,16,496,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-30632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-beijing","9":"tag-brussels","10":"tag-china","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-european-commission","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-industrial-accelerator-act","15":"tag-latin-america","16":"tag-made-in-europe","17":"tag-russia","18":"tag-serbia","19":"tag-ukraine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}