The Chinese President Si Jing seeks to restore links with the European Union (EU), presenting China as the most reliable partner, as US President Donald Trump alienates the bloc on duty to defense.
Faced with a substantial commercial embargo on the US, Chinese politicians and businessmen are looking for new markets in Europe and beyond. To help smooth these ties, Xi Jing is preparing to lift sanctions on several EU legislators, according to a European official – a largely symbolic gesture of goodwill, as measures had little impact.
“As the world’s largest economies, China and Europe will jointly safeguard the multilateral trade system,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday (24.4.2025), adding that it would welcome more members of the European Parliament to visit China without reporting China.
While leaders in Europe are still strongly opposed to Beijing’s support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, they have shown a willingness to move on to some issues. EU officials are considering the possibility of a few price quotas for Chinese electric cars, in place of 45.3% duties imposed last year due to complaints for overcrowded exports. Such a move would help to get a line into a long -term controversy that saw Beijing impose retaliation on French cognac.
Completion of this process has also been delayed for three months, facilitating the pressure on producers. At the Shanghai Motor Show this week, Chinese managers presented their investment plans in Europe, as exporters across the country are receding from US markets. Some European counterparts have urged them to a more realistic approach to resolving disputes and demanded that the closer cooperation be proceeded.
“Beijing would ideally want to disconnect Europe from the US and essentially make it a kind of natural shield for China’s ambitions,” said Rana Mitter, St Lee Chair in US-asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. “But while the EU may be skeptical of America, it will not abandon the US market or its traditional orientation in favor of China, which many consider to be extremely unreliable commercial partner.”
For years, Europe has served as a regulatory element among the world’s largest economies, but Block’s stance towards Beijing Xeni after the outbreak of Covid-19 that fueled a series of diplomatic differences. This has seen European leaders forge a largely single voice with Washington about the “detachment” of its economy from China and opposition to a flood of cheap exports that threatened jobs.
Trump weakened this alliance by hitting Europe with 20% duties – now reduced to 10% for a 90 -day pause – and demanding that the EU pay for its own defense, while at the same time approaching Putin. European leaders have made little progress in trying to bridge Trump’s disputes, despite the EU’s offer to abolish both sides all duties to industrial goods.
As the gap deepens, Finance Minister Scott Bessed warned the EU against the strengthening of the bonds with Beijing, likening such a strategy to “cutting your throat” when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Si.
Reflecting the EU’s desire to balance the links, European leaders are now going to travel to Beijing in July for a summit expected to take place in Brussels, as its location alternates. Officials have decided to break the protocol after Si reportedly refused to travel to Europe for talks where the prime minister is normally involved abroad.
One possible ambition in the event of the success of the Summit could be the revival of an investment pact that officials spent seven years negotiating, though this would probably be a long -term goal. It was abolished by Brussels at 11am in 2021 after China reacted to Western sanctions on human rights practices in the country’s Sinjiang area, announcing measures against 10 natural persons and four entities from Europe. “If the sanctions are lifted by Beijing, I think there would be a willingness to try to ratify the deal and thus partly increase trade with China,” Cecilia Malmstrom, a former European Commissioner for Trade, who is now a business commissioner, wrote earlier this month.
The investment pact had been seen as proof of both Europe’s independence from the US and China’s ability to work with US allies adopting a more modest approach. For the block of 27 countries, the Pact would have expanded access to the Chinese market, while giving Beijing some protection from hardening its attitude towards Chinese investments in Europe.
Since then, the trade relationship with the EU has changed so much that it would be “difficult” to put into force the deal, said Wang Yiwei, Professor of International Relations at Renmin University. Some areas could be applied unilaterally from China to European Member States, he added, citing e -commerce, electric cars and data transfer as areas of future cooperation.
European Commission President Ursula von der Laien said earlier this month in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Lee Kiang that the two sides should have a high -level dialogue for economic, commercial, green and digital cooperation as soon as possible. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has promised that Beijing is ready to “deepen practical cooperation” with the EU in order to “maintain stability and normalcy of global industrial and supply chains”.