No let-up likely in EU trade battle with China as commission nominees take tough stand

Senior officials nominated to help run European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen echo her confrontational approach to China

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Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has pursued a tough agenda towards Beijing on trade and competition. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:56am, 24 Oct 2024Updated: 3:18pm, 24 Oct 2024

The EU will continue on a combative path towards China over the next five years, according to written statements provided by senior officials nominated to help run Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission.

More trade investigations, tighter screening for unfair subsidies, renewed efforts to counter the impacts of industrial overcapacity, China’s ties with Russia, and weaponised interdependencies all featured prominently across half a dozen submissions on the portfolios most relevant to Beijing.

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The written statements landed on Wednesday, ahead of confirmation hearings at the European Parliament in the coming weeks and with the new commission expected to be in place by the end of November. The submissions suggest that von der Leyen’s confrontational approach to dealing with China is here to stay.

Kaja Kallas, the hawkish German politician’s pick to be the European Union’s next top diplomat, said she would “spare no effort in defending the EU’s values … from systemic rivals”, among which she includes China.

“The most pressing challenges here are China’s support for Russia as well as structural imbalances between the EU and China that result from non-market policies and practices, which create unfair competition and an unlevel playing field,” said the former Estonian prime minister, who is expected to be much more assertive than outgoing foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

She said the bloc should use the “new horizontal sanctions regime on hybrid threats” to protect EU citizens from “actors such as Russia, Iran, North Korea, and partly China”, who she claimed “aim at weaponising interdependencies and exploiting the openness of our societies against us”.