Three years into a pandemic and almost one year into a war in Ukraine have probably durably changed the European Union’s outlook on China. Its policy approach to Beijing this year is to reflect this change.
China
China seeks tech-and-trade conversation with continuously divided EU
Nobody will have missed the news of European Council president Charles Michel’s solo trip to China on Thursday. The trip revealed the EU’s entrenched internal rifts over China. It can be read as the post-pandemic restart of a very difficult domestic European conversation about China.
Week in Brussels: China, Vietnam, steel safeguard
The securitisation of EU trade and investment policy is advancing. This week the European Commission announced it would look into tighter investment screening rules and potential outbound investment controls. Its planned anti-coercion instrument is also moving forward. And the debate on the Energy Charter Treaty is not abating. More on …
Week in Brussels: Chinese firms not happy, power tussle over SMEI, CBAM
An overview of selected developments in Brussels over trade and investment this week. By Iana Dreyer and Rob Francis.
Week in Brussels: China, United States
It’s a week where China and the United States came back into focus in EU trade policy after weeks of almost exclusively dealing with Ukraine war-related trade files and the World Trade Organization.
EU, China hold trade meeting amidst increasing European concerns about broader relationship
“Engaging China will remain key”, concluded the European Commission’s director-general for trade in a short Twitter thread following the first High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue held since 2020. The meeting was chaired by China’s vice-premier Liu He and the EU’s commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis. It was held …
EU, China mandate high level dialogue to advance ‘market access’ conversation
Today’s widely anticipated EU-China summit held via videoconference mainly offered a channel of direct communication between the leaders of the Council and the European Commission on the one hand and China’s president and vice-premier on the other, amidst rising political rifts between the two sides that have been building up …
Perspectives: Where now for EU-China relations?
This week’s EU-China summit will be dominated by discussions on Russia and Ukraine. There is also a trade dimension to the conversation, amidst increasing mistrust and fears of full economic decoupling in the future. There is a need to prepare for the possibility of the latter while still setting out …
Lithuania: EU launches wide-ranging WTO case against China trade blockade
The EU has moved faster than expected in launching a legal dispute at the World Trade Organization in relation to Chinese restrictions on exports from Lithuania following a political row with the country related to the opening of a representative office for Taiwan in Vilnius last year. The move is …
Week in Brussels : Hong Kong, G7 climate club, US, Canada
The EU trade policy machinery is definitely back in action after a slow-ish start to the year. Here some selected updates on developments this week by Iana Dreyer and Rob Francis.
