A senior European official on Monday urged US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and China to work with Europe to avoid trade wars and prevent conflict and chaos.
Speaking before Trump and Putting were due to meet in Helsinki, European Council President Donald Tusk appealed for governments to avoid wrecking a political and economic order that led to a peaceful Europe and developing China.
Tusk spoke at a news conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) following an annual EU-Chinese economic summit also attended by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. They met amid mounting acrimony over Trump’s tariff hikes on goods from China, Europe and other trading partners.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It is the common duty of Europe and China, America and Russia, not to destroy this order, but to improve it — not to start trade wars which turn into hot conflict so often in our history,” said Tusk, a former Polish prime minister.
Tusk appealed to governments to “brave and responsibly” reform the WTO by updating its rules to address technology policy and state-owned industries — areas in which Beijing has conflicts with its trading partners. Trump has criticized the global trade regulator as outdated, and has gone outside the body to impose import controls, prompting warnings that he was undermining the global system.
“There is still time to prevent conflict and chaos,” Tusk said. “Today, we are facing a dilemma — whether to play a tough game such as tariff wars and conflict in places like Ukraine and Syria, or to look for common solutions based on fair rules.”
Tusk last week decried Trump’s criticism of EU allies, and urged him to remember who his friends are when meeting with Putin.
Other governments have criticized Trump for going outside the WTO when he imposed 25 percent tariffs on US$34 billion of Chinese goods. That was in response to complaints that Beijing is hurting US companies by stealing or pressuring enterprises to hand over technology.
Trump strained relations with allies by imposing tariff hikes on steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the EU. The 28-country European trade bloc responded with import taxes on US$3.25 billion of US goods.
Li said China and the EU agreed to take steps to “safeguard free trade” and the global multilateral regulatory system.
“Given the complicated and fluid international landscape, it is important for China and the EU to uphold multilateralism,” Li said.
The premier repeated official promises to open China’s markets wider, but did not directly address complaints about industrial policy or investment barriers that the US, the EU and other trading partners say violate its free-trade commitments.
Beijing has tried, so far without success, to recruit European support in its dispute with Washington. European leaders have criticized Trump’s tactics, but share US criticism of China’s industrial policy and market barriers.
Asked whether China used Monday’s meeting to try to form an alliance with the EU against Washington, Li said the dispute was a bilateral matter for Beijing and the US to resolve.
“Our summit is not directed at any third party,” Li said.
The EU and China announced plans June 25 to form a group to work on updating WTO rules.
They gave no time line and private-sector analysts expressed skepticism that Beijing would agree to rules that might hamper its plans to develop Chinese champions in technology and other industries.
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