EU draws lessons from China clashes as it faces off against US under Donald Trump

Bloc turns some of the weapons it had trained on Beijing towards Washington for potential use in the erstwhile allies’ worsening trade war

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US President Donald Trump has threatened untold consequences if Europe dares retaliate against his tariffs, leading some to observe that the bloc’s experiences with China last year may have provided an unlikely dry run for dealing with the two-time American president. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 1:00pm, 17 Apr 2025Updated: 5:01pm, 17 Apr 2025

Last year, as the European Union’s 27 members prepared to vote on whether to impose tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, US diplomats hit the phones.

Washington mounted a pressure campaign to ensure EU countries did not waver under a counter campaign from Beijing to vote down Brussels’ proposed tariffs.

Chinese officials were dangling the carrot of lucrative investments for those opposing the duties, as well as the stick of retaliatory investigations into goods like pork, brandy and dairy that would disproportionately affect those who voted in favour.

In the run-up to the vote, analysts created countless charts to predict where each capital would land in the EU’s complex voting system, weighing how susceptible they were to Beijing’s retaliation against whether they could benefit from the EV tariffs.

In the end, the vote passed comfortably and tariffs are now in place. But the prolonged episode showed how vulnerable the bloc is to superpower influence – and the fragility of EU unity.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping outside the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday. Sanchez has visited China three times in three years. Photo: Xinhua

Barely half a year later, the unity is being tested again, but with a twist: Europe is turning some of the weapons it had trained on Beijing towards Washington for potential use in the erstwhile allies’ worsening trade war.