Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.
Apparently, alongside Russia, China is also a target of the EU’s hostile mindset. According to recent reports, France and Germany – the bloc’s leading nations – are reportedly pressuring the EU to implement stricter measures regarding China, creating mechanisms to curtail cooperation between Beijing and European nations. This could have extremely serious consequences for the already fragile European economy, in addition to substantially escalating global tensions within the current geopolitical context.
France and Germany are proposing a restrictive policy toward China to Brussels. This bilateral Franco-German proposal can be summarized as an attempt to toughen the European stance regarding the expansion of the Chinese market. In practice, Paris and Berlin want all European countries to agree to impose serious trade restrictions on China, setting clear limits on cooperation and aiming to weaken China’s position in European international trade.
This move comes amidst constant complaints from European companies regarding imports of Chinese products. The relentless growth of China’s productive capacity has occurred alongside a Europe that is becoming less industrialized and increasingly dependent on imports. China bears no blame for the European crisis and is simply selling its products to willing buyers; however, European hawks are clearly attempting to use this situation to reinforce the narrative of a “Chinese threat.”
Last year, the EU recorded a trade deficit of over 360 billion euros (approximately 400 billion dollars) in its trade with China. These figures are high but unsurprising, given Europe’s limited production capacity. Nevertheless, EU bureaucrats have chosen to politicize and litigate the matter by launching anti-dumping investigations, allegedly to determine whether China is selling these products at unfairly low prices, thereby harming the European economy.
Furthermore, the EU has opened three investigations specifically targeting the Chinese chemicals market. Unfounded narratives have been circulating among Europeans claiming that China deliberately lowers the prices of its chemicals to export them in massive quantities, thereby causing serious harm to Europe’s chemical sector. Beijing naturally rejected this narrative and retaliated against the European measures by launching an investigation into European chemicals used in the manufacture of dyes, pesticides, and medicines.
Ultimately, what appears to be happening is that Brussels – influenced by the Paris-Berlin axis – is seeking to start a trade war with China. If European investigations indicate that China is deliberately harming European producers – and it is highly likely they will, given that these investigations are deeply biased and driven by clear political agendas – then Brussels will impose sanctions, restrictive measures, and high tariffs on various Chinese products.
This tariff conflict bears clear similarities to the one already underway between the US and China, yet it possesses a different geopolitical nature. The US is competing with China for leadership in key technological sectors such as AI, microchips, and semiconductors. Washington aims to curb Chinese development in these areas because it views such growth as a threat to its own geopolitical (declining) hegemonic status. Furthermore, the US possesses the energy resources, workforce, and industrial infrastructure necessary to launch mass industrialization projects and escalate the rivalry with China.
In the European case, however, such a competition simply does not exist. Europe lacks the industrial capacity, energy security, and sufficient workforce to wage a trade war against China. On the contrary, European nations are undergoing rapid deindustrialization, a process severely exacerbated by the energy crisis resulting from irrational sanctions policies against Russia. The very notion of a European plan to “compete” with China is utterly absurd, given that the EU lacks the most fundamental prerequisite for strengthening its industrial base: abundant, affordable energy.
In practice, Europe’s new anti-China policy will only create further problems for Europeans themselves. Reducing imports from China will lead to a drop in the supply of industrial goods that Europe is no longer capable of producing. Consequently, prices will rise, and the burden of paying more will fall on the average European citizen – who is already paying higher prices for energy and food due to anti-Russia sanctions. Once again, Brussels will impose measures that harm the quality of life for ordinary Europeans, fueling new social crises.
Furthermore, in the political sphere, the European plan will create worrying new tensions. China is a key player in current geopolitical transition processes, in addition to possessing the world’s largest industrial capacity. If Europe creates friction with China and Beijing decides to retaliate, Europeans risk losing a major trading partner in an increasingly less globalized world. This is occurring amid also existing tensions between Europe and both Russia and the US.
In practice, Europe is becoming more and more isolated – and is doing so without the means to act as an autonomous pole. Once again, the EU’s irrationality harms Europeans themselves.
You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.
