For a long period, there were expectations that the US\u2019s aggressive trade war policy would bring other industrialized countries and regions closer together. However, Thursday\u2019s summit between China and the European Union (EU) points in the opposite direction. Tensions between Beijing and Brussels have not been this high in years.<\/p>\n
Chinese Premier Li Qiang, fourth left, listens as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, third right, European Council President Antonio Costa, second right, and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, right, at the start of the meeting at the Great Hall of the People during the European Union-China Summit in Beijing, China, Thursday, July 24, 2025. [AP Photo\/Andres Martinez Casares]<\/p>\n
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who constantly accuses the US of harming all sides with its tariffs, threatened China with Trump-style trade sanctions. She warned that relations between China and the EU were at a \u201cturning point.\u201d The trade relationship was \u201chighly unbalanced,\u201d she said, adding that a rebalancing of bilateral relations was \u201cessential.\u201d If China continues to push into world markets with state-subsidized overcapacity, it would be \u201cvery difficult for the EU to maintain its current level of openness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen\u2019s threat of trade war measures against China shows that imposing tariffs is not a personal quirk of US President Trump, but a reaction to the global crisis of the capitalist system. As on the eve of the First and Second World Wars, the struggle for raw materials, markets, and profits is no longer being waged through peaceful competition, but through coercion, blackmail, and military force.<\/p>\n
The summit, the 25th of its kind, was intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the EU and China. These relations have never been free of tension. There have been disputes over access to China for European investments and goods, the protection of copyrights and patents, dumping prices and subsidies, and numerous other issues. The EU has also exploited the situation of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang to put pressure on China.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, economic relations have developed enormously. In 2024, the value of trade in goods and services between the EU and China was more than \u20ac845 billion. This corresponds to just under 30 percent of world trade. The EU is China\u2019s most important trading partner, and China is the EU\u2019s second largest.<\/p>\n
Chinese exports exceed imports by more than double. In 2024, the EU recorded a trade deficit with China of more than \u20ac300 billion. The gap is widening, especially since China no longer serves merely as a low-wage platform and sales market for European corporations, but has risen to become a world leader in technologies such as electric cars, rare earths, and, increasingly, AI.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Volkswagen was still the leading car manufacturer in China with a market share of 19 percent, but that share has since shrunk to 12 percent. Chinese brands, on the other hand, have increased their market share from 36 to 69 percent over the past five years. This is mainly due to the production of inexpensive, high-quality electric cars.<\/p>\n
Last summer, the EU imposed additional surcharges of 17 to 35 percent on Chinese cars on top of the basic 10 percent tariff to prevent them from conquering the European market as well. China has a virtual global monopoly on rare earths, which are indispensable for many modern technologies.<\/p>\n
The EU is reacting extremely aggressively to China\u2019s economic rise. At the same time, it is trying not to sever economic ties completely. Together with the threatened punitive tariffs from the US, the EU\u2019s largest trading partner, this would have devastating economic consequences.<\/p>\n
For its part, the Chinese leadership has emphasized its interest in further economic cooperation, but it is not prepared to give in to European blackmail. During a meeting with EU leaders, President Xi Jinping stated that there were no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions between China and the EU. It is hoped that the EU market will remain open and that the European side will \u201crefrain from using restrictive economic and trade instruments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n