Xi wants EU-China tag team to resist Trump’s trade onslaught

Chinese ruler Xi Jinping proposed the EU and Beijing work together to resist Donald Trump as the U.S. president wages a global trade war.

“China and the EU must fulfill their international responsibilities, jointly safeguard the trend of economic globalization and a fair international trade environment, and jointly resist unilateral and intimidating practices,” Xi said during a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in the Chinese capital.

Washington and Beijing have been involved in an escalating tit-for-tat tariff spat, which saw China on Friday morning raise levies on American imports to 125 percent, in response to ever-heightening U.S. tariffs.

While Trump has issued a pause on his most severe tariff regime for other countries around the world ― including the EU ― China is looking for partners to help it counter immense trade pressure coming from the White House.

Sánchez echoed Xi’s call for closer ties between the EU and the Asian superpower at a moment when the world is facing “extraordinary challenges.”

“The complex global landscape makes it necessary for us to bet on more dialogue, cooperation, and a strengthening of our relations with other countries and regional blocs,” Sánchez said, in a veiled reference to Trump’s global trade war.

“China is a fundamental partner for us when it comes to facing the world’s greatest challenges,” he added. “Climate change, global development, the fight against inequality … All key issues for us.”

The Spanish prime minister’s Beijing pilgrimage has triggered Washington, where U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week compared Madrid’s attempts to forge closer trade relations with China with “cutting [one’s ] own throat.”

Sánchez insisted that “Spain’s foreign policy does not go against anyone,” adding that his country was determined to play an “active” role in fostering “mutually beneficial” transatlantic relations. But it was easy to see his repeated advocacy of “fair play in international commerce” as a criticism of Trump’s recent punitive trade measures.

EU dilemma

Sánchez’s trip highlights divisions within the EU over how to react to U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff regime.

Some of the bloc’s leaders advocate pivoting away from the U.S. and forging closer ties with different global partners, but others argue the bloc is better off sticking closely to Washington.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who insists Europe must retain a “pragmatic, constructive and open approach” to the White House, is scheduled to travel to the Oval Office next week to prove her worth as a potential “Trump whisperer.”

Spain’s prime minister said he had spoken to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič prior to the visit. On Friday, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported EU leaders are planning to meet with Xi in China in July.

The last summit of this kind was held in Beijing in 2023 and protocol would normally require the next edition to take place in Brussels. The EU’s willingness to have China play host once again suggests Europe’s leaders are keen to please Xi and use the summit — which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of EU-China relations — to forge stronger ties with the Asian superpower.

In Beijing, Xi championed close relations with Spain, which he said were increasingly important “the more turbulent and volatile the international situation becomes.” According to Sa´nchez, the two leaders spoke at length about global cooperation and the EU’s determination to secure a “just peace” in Ukraine.

Beijing is the final stop in an Asian tour that also saw Sánchez meet Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The trip served to secure agricultural agreements with Hanoi and lock in lucrative deals involving pork and cherry exports to China.