Opinion | Despite the Trump threat, China-EU alignment remains a challenge

EU’s friendly overture to China may be aimed at bargaining with Trump. Meanwhile, China has installed a Wolf Warrior envoy

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President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China Jens Eskelund talks during a press conference for the latest report on European companies in China, January 9, in Beijing. Photo: AP

Published: 5:30am, 11 Feb 2025Updated: 7:25am, 11 Feb 2025

US President Donald Trump appears to be doing his best to make an alignment between the European Union and China possible. It is a paradox, given that Washington and Europe have a long-standing alliance but that, essentially, is what is emerging.

Trump has slapped fresh US trade tariffs on China and promised the EU would be next in the firing line, prompting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to respond that the bloc would retaliate if targeted.

Like the Chinese leadership, EU institutions, member countries and leaders are trying to understand how to cope with an increasingly aggressive Trump. Setting aside trade quarrels and joining hands can be a realistic option for Beijing and Brussels. At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, von der Leyen said the EU was ready to “engage constructively” with China.

The EU has never been Trump’s darling, and as von der Leyen pointed out in Davos, Europe “must look for new opportunities wherever they arise”, engaging new friends beyond blocs.

This should be music to Chinese ears. But at this stage of the EU-Trump confrontation, the European bloc might simply be using the possibility of a rapprochement with China as a ploy to soften the US president’s tariff threat – seeing as its primary choice the working out of a modus vivendi with the new administration in Washington.

During the Biden’s administration, von der Leyen fundamentally aligned Brussels with Washington’s attempts to tackle what the two sides denounced as China’s persistent market and trade distortions – though Europe has so far failed to effectively “de-risk” from China. The European Commission continued along this line even after Trump’s election. In mid-December, under its Digital Services Act, the EU executive body opened an investigation into Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok for suspected election interference in Romania.