{"id":11217,"date":"2025-04-11T16:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T16:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/11217\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T16:46:13","slug":"chinas-xi-tells-spanish-pm-that-partnership-needed-no-mention-of-talks-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/11217\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Xi tells Spanish PM that partnership needed, no mention of talks with US"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIJING (AP) \u2014 China calls on Western countries to work to support multilateralism and open cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Spain\u2019s visiting Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a> on Friday, as Beijing woos allies<\/a> for its escalating tariff fight with U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two sides should promote the building of a fair and reasonable global governance system, maintain world peace and security, and promote common development and prosperity,\u201d Xi told S\u00e1nchez at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, according to a readout of the meeting by the official Xinhua News Agency. <\/p>\n

The visit comes at a complex moment for Europe and China. The tariffs announced last week \u2014 and then paused \u2014 by U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> could mean that the European Union pursues more trade with China \u2014 the world\u2019s third-largest consumer market after the United States and the EU. <\/p>\n

Xi made no direct mention of Trump or the tariffs totaling 145%<\/a> the U.S. is imposing on Chinese goods, but he referred to \u201cmultiple risks and challenges\u201d facing the world that can only be dealt with through \u201cunity and cooperation.\u201d <\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez is making his third trip to the country in two years as his government seeks to boost investment from the Asian giant. He was also expected to meet with business leaders from several Chinese companies, many of which produce electric batteries or renewable energy technologies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After meeting Xi, S\u00e1nchez said Spain was in favor of \u201cmore balanced relations between the European Union and China, of finding negotiated solutions to our differences, which we have, and of greater cooperation in areas of common interest.\u201d He added: \u201cTrade wars are not good, nobody wins. And this is clear, the world needs both China and the United States to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s government spokesperson Pilar Alegr\u00eda said earlier this week that S\u00e1nchez\u2019s trip \u201chas special importance\u201d and is an opportunity to \u201cdiversify markets\u201d as Spain faces U.S. tariffs.<\/p>\n

Warnings from Washington<\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called out Spain for its move toward China, saying on Tuesday that Spain \u2014 or any country that tries to get closer to China \u2014 would be \u201ccutting their own throat\u201d because Chinese manufacturers will be looking to dump goods that they can\u2019t sell in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpanding the trade relations that we have with other countries, including a partner as important as China, does not go against anyone,\u201d Spain\u2019s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas, who is accompany S\u00e1nchez, said in Vietnam on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has to defend their own interests,\u201d Planas said. <\/p>\n

Spain leans toward China as EU is divided<\/p>\n

Spain \u2014 the eurozone\u2019s fourth-largest economy and a leader in growth<\/a> \u2014 has in recent years been less adversarial toward China than other EU countries. <\/p>\n

After initially supporting EU tariffs placed last year on Chinese-made electric vehicles<\/a> over concerns that they enjoy unfair advantages, Spain abstained from a vote on the proposal.<\/p>\n

Planas insisted that Spain\u2019s approach to China \u201ccontributes to the collective effort made by certain countries in the European Union to get out of this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While China\u2019s investments in Spain have grown, the Iberian nation trades less with China than Germany or Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain\u2019s position has changed to be more pro-China … than the the average European country,\u201d said Alicia Garc\u00eda-Herrero, an economist for Asia Pacific at the French investment bank Natixis and an expert on Europe\u2019s relations with China. <\/p>\n

Clean energy and pork products<\/p>\n

Spain is a major supplier of pork to China, providing about 20% of China\u2019s imports, according to Interporc, a Spanish association of pork producers. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, China is the main market,\u201d said Daniel de Miguel, deputy director of Interporc. <\/p>\n

The Southern European country, which generated 56% of its electricity last year from renewable sources, needs Chinese critical raw materials, solar panels and green technologies \u2014 similar to other European countries transitioning away from fossil fuels. <\/p>\n

In December, Chinese electric battery company CATL announced a 4.1 billion euro ($4.5 billion) joint venture<\/a> with automaker Stellantis to build a battery factory in northern Spain. That followed deals signed last year between Spain and Chinese companies Envision and Hygreen Energy to build green hydrogen infrastructure in the country. <\/p>\n

Spain, as a EU nation, was initially hit with a 20% blanket tariff that Trump has now lowered to 10% for most countries other than China for 90 days. The bloc also faces a U.S. duty of 25% for cars, steel and aluminum. <\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez\u2019s visit was announced before the Trump administration unveiled its tariff plan.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda-Herrero, the economist at French bank Natixis, stressed the political value of the trip for S\u00e1nchez at a time when his leftist minority coalition lacks the support needed to get much passed at home and while Europe may be looking to thaw its strained relations with China.<\/p>\n

For Spain, the key thing is \u201cto get a leadership position in Europe at a time when the transatlantic alliance is not only at risk but in shambles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Naishadham reported from Madrid. Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIJING (AP) \u2014 China calls on Western countries to work to support multilateralism and open cooperation, Chinese President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[7692,7689,51,1395,7684,7690,32,5211,2000,299,1699,4179,5212,3058,7691,5338,7688,285,5442,7686,104,7685,7687,49,5213,263,1773],"class_list":{"0":"post-11217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-alicia-garca-herrero","9":"tag-auto-industry","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-china-government","13":"tag-daniel-de-miguel","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-economic-policy","16":"tag-eu","17":"tag-europe","18":"tag-european-union","19":"tag-general-news","20":"tag-government-policy","21":"tag-international-trade","22":"tag-luis-planas","23":"tag-pedro-sanchez","24":"tag-pilar-alegra","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-renewable-energy","27":"tag-scott-bessent","28":"tag-spain","29":"tag-spain-government","30":"tag-stellantis-nv","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-government","33":"tag-world-news","34":"tag-xi-jinping"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114320348721489782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}