China puts the EU on notice over trade
Beijing sent a serious message to Brussels over the weekend: Continue to escalate trade tensions and we will kick your butt.
Some context: Beijing and Brussels are on the cusp of an honest-to-goodness trade war as EU leaders at the bloc and national level propose tough measures to reduce reliance on Chinese goods in European supply chains.
The latest: On May 29, the European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen chaired a meeting of top EC officials to discuss China.
- The terse meeting readout said the “current state of the trade and investment relationship is not sustainable.”
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) responded:
- “China will resolutely take countermeasures…to safeguard its own interests.”
On May 30, the CCTV-affiliated social media account Yuyuan Tantian cited insider sources saying that China “may initiate anti-discrimination investigations and supply chain security reviews” if Brussels doesn't change course.
Get smart: China is confident it can leverage its huge market, supply chain dominance, and increasingly sophisticated corpus of lawfare to counteract the EU’s lumbering policy machinery.
- Chinese retaliation will proceed on a calibrated tit-for-tat basis with room for de-escalation should Brussels cry uncle.