Seven days before the expiration of US President Donald Trump’s closure to impose 30% duties on EUEU leadership meets China’s political leadership, under the Si Jing in Beijing today (24.7.2025).
Chinese President Xi Jing has called on China and the European Union (EU) to provide more stability and certainty to the world through stable and healthy China -EU relations.
Si made these statements during a meeting with European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Laien, who are here for the 25th China-EU summit in Beijing.
Noting that this year it is 50 years since China-EU diplomatic relations and 80 years from the United Nations, Si said China-EU relations have reached yet another crucial point in history.
He said that in the last 50 years, China and the EU have achieved fruitful results in exchanges and cooperation, offering mutual success and global benefits, and an important understanding and insight is that the two sides should respect each other, seek the common points, while maintaining the widespread, while maintaining the widespread and maintain.
These are also important principles and the right direction for China-EU relations in the future, Si said. Faced with an accelerated global transformation that we have never seen for a century ago and a changing and troubled world, Chinese and EU leaders should once again show vision and leadership and make the right strategic choices that will meet the expectations of people.
Si emphasized the importance for China and the EU, both constructive forces for polymerization, open spirit and cooperation, to enhance communication, to enhance confidence and to deepen cooperation in a more demanding and complex international situation in order to provide more and more stability.
As “big factors” in the international community, China and the EU will have to continue to develop their bilateral relations in the right direction and work together to lead them to an even brighter course for the next 50 years, he said.
30% duties in the EU will carry recession
Given Beijing’s point of view in relation to the duties prepared by Trump against the EU, a report by the Xinhua state agency, he points out that last week, the Association for the development of Italy’s industry in Metzjorno warned that the US duties can be warned by the US duties. jobs, including about 13,000 in the southern regions of the country.
In addition to duties, the recent abrupt revaluation of the euro has also raised increasing concern between policy makers and economists, with some warning that the strong currency is causing a “double blow” of export -based Europe economies.
The recent protective movements of the United States may inadvertently accelerate Europe’s attempt to differentiate its commercial partnerships and to help promote a more balanced, durable and without exclusion of world trade architecture, German economist Herman said.
The last efforts made by the EU to secure an agreement to prevent US new duties have failed so far. EU Commissioner Maros Sefkovic warned that the imposition of 30% “banning trade”.
From Bavarian steelmakers to Croatian jam producers, new duties mean a disaster for European businesses that are excessively dependent on US markets, underlining an urgent truth: Europe must now be differentiated or face permanent decline.
Neb Tsoupin, CEO of Croatia’s Hermes International, fears that his business funeral jam – a US market success since 2005 – may not survive the forthcoming duties.
In the good old times, the company sent up to 150 figs of fig jam in the United States annually, which brought about $ 10 million to sales revenue.
In the case of a 10% duty on EU products by the US government, the figs producer will have to pay an additional $ 1 million a year.
As duties find their way to the prices of Chupi’s fig jam in the United States, sales declined and the company was forced to cut jobs.
If Washington implements its 30%duty threats, Chupin told Xinhua that she could not imagine the consequences.
Chupin’s concern resonates with Italy’s 6,000 vulnerable and medium -sized enterprises, especially in high quality areas such as drinks and medicinal products, where 11 billion euros ($ 12.7 billion) in exports are hanging in one thread.
Last week, the Italian Association for the Development of the Industry in Metzogordo warned that US duties could lead to a reduction in Italy’s GDP by 0.5% in 2026 and the possible loss of up to 150,000 jobs, including about 13,000 in the southern regions of the country.
The Institute of International Political Studies (ISPI), an Italian thought tank, said US duties would also burden economies such as Germany and France, costing 0.5% and 0.25% of their economic results in two countries.
According to the new US tariff policies, European steel products sold in the United States will impose an additional 50%duty, which, according to experts from the Bavarian Business Association in Germany, will make sales of German steel products in the United States.
Kerstein Maria Ripel, chief executive of the German steel federation, warned that the influx of steel products from third countries into European markets would aggravate the difficult position of European steel producers.
Bomb the appreciation of the euro
The recent sharp appreciation of the euro has caused increasing concern between policy makers and economists, with some warning that the strong currency is causing a “double blow” in export -based Europe economies.
The euro rose to the high US $ 1,181 at the beginning of this month, according to reports of the European Central Bank. The US -dollar pair has increased by 14% since the beginning of the year.
Henrik Muller, a professor of economic journalism at Dortmund’s technical university, explained that a stronger euro makes European goods and services more expensive than foreign competitors, thus damaging exports.
For an area that is largely dependent on external demand, this is “particularly untimely”, he said.
Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Georgeti stressed that a weak US dollar acts essentially as an “indirect” duty, making US products cheaper and imported products more expensive, thus distorting international trade.
Muller added that the eurozone, and in particular Germany, is affected at the same time by the increase in trade barriers and the appreciation of the coin. “This double hammer, duties plus the appreciation will hurt,” he warned.
“Any level of duties in addition to this is out of control”, as the cheapest dollar represents the “highest duty (Europe) is already facing … making us lame from the beginning,” said Emanuele Orsini, president of Italy’s largest employers’ union, Confindustria, at a conference in Rome. In his view, the only acceptable duty to EU exports to the United States would be zero, as the block is already facing a detrimental exchange rate.
In recent days, many members of the Board of Directors of the European Central Bank (ECB) have expressed concern about the validity of the euro. ECB Vice President Louis de Ginto recently said that a exchange rate of more than US $ 1.20 per euro could endanger Europe’s financial prospects.
The most worrying is the speed at which the exchange rate reaches this level. Thu Lan Nguyen, a foreign exchange expert in Commerzbank, noted in an analysis that rapid and intense exchange rates are the ones that can undermine the certainty of companies’ design and therefore have real financial impacts.
While US unstable commercial policies are causing chaos in world trade, supply chain and the European economy, European policymakers and manufacturers are going to differentiate their trade and seek to expand their businesses to other markets.
Unilateral commercial measures from Washington undermine the foundations of the global polymer system and cause a direct blow to the German economy, said Bernd Einmeier, President of the German-Chinese Union for the economy, education and culture. “This situation requires a strategic shift: market differentiation can no longer remain a political slogan, it has become an economic necessity. Sustainable international trade must be based on trust, rules and reciprocity. “
In fact, financial security has long been an EU concern, which is actively seeking to attract a variety of commercial partners in an effort to reduce excessive dependence.
The importance of EU trade openings in the world south
The EU and the joint market of the South, known as Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, signed a free trade and cooperation agreement last December.
For Hermann Simon, a famous German economist known as the father of the “hidden champions” theory, the unused potential of trade partnerships with developing areas remains a key focus to Germany and Europe.
He emphasized Africa as a particularly striking example: Germany today exports more to Sweden, a country with just 10 million inhabitants, rather than the entire African continent, which hosts over 1.2 billion.
This intense imbalance, he argued, emphasizes not only Germany and Europe to expand their commercial footprint to African markets, but also to support Africa’s ability to increase its own exports to Europe.
Strengthening such mutual trade relations, Hermann said, represents both an important financial opportunity and a common world responsibility.
In his view, recent protective movements of the United States may inadvertently accelerate Europe’s attempt to differentiate its commercial partnerships and help promote a more balanced, durable and without exclusion of world trade.