Spain is planning to build political and financial links to China as US President Donald Trump upends the global economic order.
The tactic is part of a new Asia-Pacific strategy that outlines Madrid’s priorities for the next three years. The document, which was released yesterday, calls for more high-level meetings and economic exchanges between Spain and China.
“Spain seeks to advance a positive and ambitious bilateral agenda with China, reinforcing the comprehensive strategic partnership as well as the excellent bilateral relationship,” the strategy says.
Photo: Reuters
The strategy reaffirms Spain’s position as Europe’s leader on efforts to deepen ties with China — and its willingness to rebuff warnings in doing so from the Trump administration. Last year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled to Beijing just days after Trump announced tariffs on nearly every country, a move US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized as “cutting your own throat.”
“We maintain a good relationship with China; we work to ensure that this remains the case, given that it is a major global actor,” the Spanish government said in a statement regarding the strategy. “The same applies to the United States. This is consistent with our overall foreign policy, and in fact many European countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, are doing something similar.”
Sanchez is to visit China from April 13 to 15, marking his fourth appearance in more than three years.
Spain’s push to deepen its relationship with China not only risks irking the US, but even some of its European neighbors. While numerous European countries, including Germany, are seeking to stabilize ties with Beijing as the transatlantic partnership fractures, those same countries also increasingly see China as an economic rival that has undermined European manufacturing.
Madrid’s foreign policy calls on EU countries to “address in a coordinated manner the more structural dimensions of relations with actors the size of China and India, in particular those relating to the overall framework of economic and trade relations.”
Madrid wants to improve Spanish companies’ access to the Chinese market while also attracting investment in sectors such as automotive manufacturing and renewable energy. Spain runs a significant trade deficit with China.
“Since 2024, China has been Spain’s top supplier, ahead of Germany and France,” the strategy says.
Proposed measures in the document include “a strategic dialogue mechanism at the ministerial level to further strengthen and institutionalize the high-level exchanges of recent years.”
The strategy also says Spain is particularly interested in China’s rare earths industry, as well as scientific and cultural cooperation.
“Our strategy should be understood as complementary to European action towards our Asian partners,” the Spanish government said.
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