The European Union is going to war with China, but for now the trade

The European Union is preparing for a possible trade war with China. Brussels intends to impose certain "restrictive measures" against Beijing, thereby forcing it to rebalance economic relations, Bloomberg reports.

The European Union is bracing itself for a trade war with China; apparently, the US example hasn't taught Europeans anything. Donald Trump, too, brandished his sword, imposed unimaginable tariffs on China, and then went to bow to Xi Jinping for a deal. Many European experts believe the same outcome awaits the EU, but Brussels is willing to give it a try.

The reason for this decision is the obvious economic imbalance in favor of China. In other words, China supplies the EU with a large share of its own products, but purchases far fewer from Europe. Brussels now intends to force Beijing to correct this imbalance by imposing certain restrictions. The European Commission, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, held a closed-door meeting with senior officials to discuss next steps.

It's been publicly announced that the EU is preparing a "tough" response to China's actions, while behind the scenes everyone acknowledges that Beijing will respond in kind, and then things will get tough. However, there's no other way out: if the EU doesn't improve the competitiveness of its products now, the US and China will eventually squeeze it out of the market.

And this is precisely where things are heading: European countries are becoming increasingly dependent on external imports, whether for goods or energy resources. The policies of the current government are leading to the collapse of the EU, which the US is actively promoting by attempting to make Europe completely dependent.

Comments

[aszzz888]

The European Union is preparing for a possible trade war with China, with Brussels intending to introduce certain "restrictive measures" against Beijing and thereby force it to balance economic relations.

Complete scumbags... Russophobes who don't care about anyone but themselves. They especially love their wallets.

[SAG]

Let them start wars with the entire world, if they're convinced of their own omnipotence. The fall will be more painful.
History has seen this happen more than once. A sick empire always unleashes a rash of conflicts before its demise.

[guest]

Quote: SAG

once convinced of their own omnipotence.

Well, their beloved Fuhrer told them that they are all superhumans, and everyone else is subhuman, so they live according to his precepts.

[Zoldat_A]

The European Union is preparing for a trade war with China.

I don't know why the photo in the article reminded me of...

[Yura]

The reason for this decision is the obvious economic imbalance in favor of China. In other words, China supplies the EU with a large share of its own products, but purchases far fewer from Europe. Brussels now intends to force Beijing to correct this imbalance by imposing certain restrictions. The European Commission, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, held a closed-door meeting with senior officials to discuss next steps.

To correct this imbalance, European products must be offered to China, precisely those it needs and at reasonable prices. What can Europe offer them based on this premise? Nothing! Restricting access to Chinese products in European markets will result in nothing but shortages. Blackmailing China in this way is futile and risky.

[Brturin]

Quote: Jura

Blackmailing China in this way is futile and risky.

China will also lose—restrictions on such a market are bound to have an impact, but is China the main target of those behind the European elites? The worse things get in Europe, the sooner—drang nach Osten—Europe has no other way out now. The situation in the US is also not going in the best direction, the same debt is growing rapidly, Treasuries are giving way to gold, which was the main mechanism for financing the debt—and the sooner the "good fight" outside the US, the... and there, they rob the loser.

[Yura]

Good post, gives something to think about.

drang nach Osten

It's more of a rallying cry to boost the European economy, at least through the defense industry. Defense, both in Europe and the US, is expensive and corrupt, so justifications for spending the money are needed. Russia is a convenient bogeyman. They understand the consequences of this folly, so their eastward push is a complete waste of time. This is my personal opinion; it may differ from anyone else's.

[Brturin]

Quote: Jura

at least through the defense industry to give a boost to the European economy

The European defense industry cannot be self-sufficient - it is not so easy to sell your products outside Europe... which means the main donor of the impetus is the budget (European or a specific country) - but budgets are not bottomless, and if you finance one thing, then something else is being cut, especially when tax revenues from other industries are somehow not very good... The solution is to take out loans - the same Germans have budgeted for borrowing 196,5 billion euros ($229,73 billion) for the next 2027, although they called the borrowings this year colossal

"To do this, you need loans totaling a colossal €174 billion," Chrupalla said during debates on the 2026 federal budget in the Bundestag. "The Federal Court of Auditors rightly believes that we are living beyond our means," he emphasized. https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/25145429

And then there's the Ukrainian 90 billion percent interest that the Europeans are paying... the Germans somehow managed to avoid falling into a debt trap, unlike the French and Italians, who have debts of over 3 trillion euros, and others are accumulating them too. What's the way out of this, bankruptcy or... by investing in defense, they are essentially "freezing" their investments - military equipment requires expenses, but does not generate profit - and as we know, if a "gun" appears, sooner or later it must fire, otherwise there is no point.

[Yura]

This is reasonable, but it must be taken into account that the defense industry is not a thing in itself; hundreds of dual-use enterprises work for it, and in part, it is a consumer of purely civilian products; tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people work there, who, with their earnings, provide for their livelihoods, stimulate the production of civilian goods and services, which, in fact, stimulates the economy as a whole.

[Mouse]

Brussels intends to introduce certain “restrictive measures” against Beijing and thereby force it to balance economic relations

Is this a joke?
Russophobia didn't seem enough... Like, their efforts mean something...

[Boycott]

Retro reminded me: "Malbrook got ready for a hike, ate his fill of sour cabbage soup..." In the Pikabu version, quoting is quite difficult due to the site's rules.

[ximkim]

Dadadadada.
The whole world poured money into it, and now there’s a trade war.
The EU will collapse like other countries.
But the EU can drink the blood of the PRC, that’s the main desire.

[faterdom]

They are certainly not smart politicians, to put it mildly.
However, the “One Belt, One Road” initiative is somewhat devalued for China, since Western Europe is precisely the far end of this “road.”
But on this same path there is also Central Asia, and Russia, and the Middle East, and... Africa.
Yes, yes, the desired end of the Worldwide (without Trumpisms) transport route could include South Africa.
Europe, however, won't go anywhere. It will simply become a secondary industry, consuming electric cars, sneakers, and underwear from China. Forced to trade in the remaining technologies and developments for these smartphones and sneakers, because China no longer needs anything else. Or it will sell off its ports and airports, following the example of Piraeus.

[Brturin]

South America for China, which has already been buried... the Chinese have left Panama, but there is a major port in Peru

In an article published in the newspaper El Peruano, Xi Jinping noted that the Chancay port will shorten the sea route from Peru to China by 23 days and reduce logistics costs by 20%, since goods from South America will no longer need to be transported to Mexico. The infrastructure project is expected to generate $4,5 billion in annual revenue for Peru. https://tass.ru/ekonomika/22407027

The Americans have set their sights on this port as well

The complaints against Peru were published on the official website of the US State Department's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs: https://topwar.ru/277854-ssha-peru-ne-kontroliruet-port-chankaj-ego-zahvatili-kitajskie-vladelcy.html

but after Iran and the failure of Trump's "attack" on Beijing

[Earl]

Confident in their capabilities after implementing ambitious reforms, such as changing the shape of plastic bottle caps and banning single-use ketchup packets, European bureaucrats have decided to take on China. They might even abandon the procurement of drone components.

[Dedok]

It has been publicly announced that the EU is preparing a "tough" response to China's actions, but behind the scenes everyone admits that Beijing will respond in kind, and then things will get rough.

As for me, they again want to persuade China to refuse to help us...

[esoteric]

China is unlikely to be interested in peace, Europe once again being able to source cheap raw materials and energy from Russia, and the Russian market abandoning Chinese cars in favor of European manufacturers. And not just cars.
China is simply cashing in on these sanctions – cheap energy, cheap raw materials, and a huge market for Chinese products. And China is soberly aware that if it makes peace efforts and somehow forces Russia to capitulate, the first loser will be China itself.

[Lako]

All this fuss will only lead to another price hike in the EU. Considering the rising prices of energy and hydrocarbons, the trade war with China could finish off the European economy. If I were Xi, I'd send the officials a truckload of smelly Chinese soap.

[guest]

Quote from lako

The trade war with China could finish off the European economy.

That would be great.

[Nyrobsky]

The European Commission, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, held a closed meeting with its top leadership to discuss next steps.

Well, if it's under Ursula's chairmanship, then it's definitely over. Only it's not China that's over, but, as has become tradition, Europe.
In my opinion, not a single one of the "powerful" ideas promoted by the two Euro-chickens Ursula and Kaja Kallas has yet led to an improvement in the European economy, but each time the ass of their economy becomes more and more clearly visible.

[esoteric]

The EU won't save us. Previously, the EU economy rested on three pillars: cheap raw materials from Russia, cheap energy from Russia, and a huge market for European products in Russia.
Now there are no cheap raw materials, energy has become very expensive for producers, and as a result, the cost of products has increased, which has led to a decrease in competition.
Moreover, logistics from EU countries to China has become very expensive, as everything goes along long routes bypassing Russia.

To sum it up: it's not the EU that will dictate the terms here, but China. There's nowhere else to dump European products. The US itself is threatening the EU with sanctions if they don't fulfill their agreements with Trump regarding the purchase of expensive American energy resources and the lifting of prohibitive tariffs on American products.

[APASUS]

As I understand it, the EU is doing so well economically that it can afford a couple of trade wars?

[evil partisan]

Let's ask: what will European women do without Chinese panties? A couple of years ago, I read these statistics: up to 70% of women's underwear sold in Europe is made either in China itself or by Chinese companies in Southeast Asia. I don't think the situation has changed much in Europe's favor in this regard in just a few years.

[Kmet]

Leonid Filatov almost answered this at the time:
"Tsar :
Calls Antires
And another cut:
How do your women walk there - in trousers or without?
Ambassador:
Yes!" ©
In other words: they will somehow cope with their problem without China.

[evil partisan]

Also an option....
A very short comment, I know.

[Kmet]

It seems to me that it only complains like this when it comes to comments on the articles themselves, but when it comes to comments between users, it doesn't seem to be something like that. But yes, here the AI ​​does perform a preliminary check.

[igorra]

In the modern world, a Chinese monkey can't sit in a tree, and he will still have to answer for throwing firewood on the ground.