The EU’s deal with the U.S., which fends off Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on most EU goods to 30 percent on Aug. 1, came days after von der Leyen met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing for what should have been a celebration, yet ended up being anything but.
Speaking after a one-day EU-China summit — marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations — von der Leyen said relations between the bloc and China had reached an “inflection point.”
“Trade must become more balanced,” she said, arguing that the EU will not be able to keep its markets open to Chinese exports unless Beijing takes decisive action on the trading relationship.
In her strategy to win over the White House, von der Leyen, a transatlanticist at heart, has over recent months gradually toughened her stance toward Beijing — which in return has warned it will retaliate against any country that seals a trade deal with the U.S.
Ahead of the EU-China summit, expectations for any concrete deliverables on trade were low, with some EU officials pointing out it was an achievement the EU and China were meeting at all in the current climate. Right on cue before the summit, the EU listed two Chinese banks in its latest sanctions against Russia, leading Beijing to vent its “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” at a step that it called “egregious.”
In the end, the two sides agreed a mechanism to facilitate the fast-tracking of licenses for raw materials, something many European companies had complained about as China tightened its leash on export controls over its rare earth minerals. Big spats — such as over the EU’s anti-subsidy duties on Chinese electric vehicles and access to tenders for medical devices — were left unresolved, however.