EU puts trade war with China on the cards

At a parliamentary confirmation hearing on Monday, EU trade chief-in-waiting Maros Sefcovic clearly showed his tough stance on the European Union's trade issues with China.

The Slovakian politician, who would also be the commissioner for economic security should he clear a vote by the members of the European Parliament later this month, described China as "our third biggest and most challenging" trading partner, and vowed to "rebalance" ties and be "more assertive in challenging structural imbalances and unfair practices" including "non-market policies driving overcapacity".

Regarding the ongoing negotiations between China and the EU over the "anti-subsidy" tariffs the latter slapped on Chinese-made electric vehicles from Oct 30, Sefcovic seemed to miss the point, saying that the European Commission hoped to avoid any further Chinese "retaliation" through dialogue, while the current focus of the consultations is on whether the two sides can agree on minimum prices of the Chinese-made EVs in the EU market.

The future EU trade chief should be reminded that his primary responsibility is to serve the bloc's interests through promoting healthy and stable development of its economic and trade ties with major trading partners, including China.

The strong complementarity between China's trade with the EU and the United States' trade with it means the bloc will only harm its own interests by blocking imports from China, for which it cannot find a feasible replacement.

A close ally with the pro-US European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on China-related issues, Sefcovic should be well aware that targeting the Chinese-made EVs is a politically motivated move that hurts the EU itself most — since consumers have to pay higher prices, EU carmakers are secluded from cooperation opportunities with advanced Chinese partners and EU's green transition slows down — not to mention the damage caused by China's countermeasures against pork, dairy products and brandy from the EU.

It is the bad roles assumed by the Washington yesmen in the EU that have led the champions of free trade, open markets, inclusiveness and independence astray, sacrificing the EU's interests and principles on the altar of US hegemony. The EU has come under mounting pressure from the US, which has been pressing it to build "a wall of opposition" and form "a united front" against Chinese products and sectors that outcompete those of the US.

Despite Sefcovic's claim that "the EU is not interested in trade wars. We are looking for a rebalancing of our relations with China", what the EU has been doing as evidenced by its protectionist moves on the Chinese-made EVs is to push the win-win Sino-EU economic relations to a trade war by trying to reset the otherwise healthy relations as Washington dictates.

Ironically, when the America-first US targets imports from the EU, something China has never taken the initiative to do, those Washington proxies in Brussels just keep a studied silence.