China’s Europe game should worry the United States

It was not long after U.S. President Trump’s disastrous trip to Europe in May that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made his own journey to Brussels. Recently, Beijing has taken actions to strengthen its trading relationship with the European Union and to cooperate with Brussels on other issues, including climate change. The timing of these endeavors is not a coincidence. China appears to be looking to exploit the growing rift in the Transatlantic relationship to forge closer ties with Europe and to improve its own status on the world stage — a triangular strategy of diplomacy…

[T]he United States should pay attention to China’s rhetoric and actions regarding Europe. President Trump’s “America First” principle is not resonating with Europeans, and China is attempting to present an alternative message that appeals to Europe’s trade and climate agendas. If Beijing and Brussels forge a closer relationship, it would inevitably be at the expense of the United States…

Beijing has strengthened its economic bonds on the Continent, most notably in Central and Eastern Europe through its controversial Belt and Road Initiativeand with 35 billion euros of foreign direct investment heavily concentrated in Western Europe. Disagreements between Europe and China will not reverse this trend, nor will they dismantle the growing interdependency between the two economies.

China is also capitalizing on the protectionist rhetoric emerging from the United States to paint itself as a defender of global free trade, a message that resonates in Brussels.

The European Union is China’s largest trading partner, with roughly $1.6 billion of goods and services moving between the two mega-economies every day.