TRADE WAR?
EU commerce coverage has turned more and more protecting over issues that China’s production-focused growth mannequin may see it flooded with low cost items as Chinese language companies look to step up exports amid weak home demand.
China has rejected accusations of unfair subsidies or that it has an overcapacity downside, saying the event of China’s EV trade has been the results of benefits in expertise, market and trade provide chains.
“When European Fee President Von der Leyen introduced she would examine China’s new power automobiles … I had an intuitive feeling it was not solely an financial challenge but in addition a geopolitical challenge,” stated Zhang Yansheng, chief analysis fellow on the China Heart for Worldwide Financial Exchanges.
“Personally, I feel it’s unfair to start out a tariff warfare by solely considering the capability utilisation fee and inadequate demand,” he added.
Commerce relations between the 27-strong bloc and the world’s No 2 economic system took an abrupt flip for the more serious when the European Parliament voted in Could 2021 to freeze ratification of what would have been a landmark funding treaty due to tit-for-tat sanctions over allegations of human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang area.
Beijing and Brussels got here to blows once more that yr when China downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania and informed multinationals to sever relations with the Baltic state after Vilnius invited democratically ruled Taiwan, which China claims as a part of its territory, to open a consultant workplace within the capital.
