A sinking ship? Why the EU and China could be heading for a trade war

Clashes at a conference in Chinese capital reflect wider tensions that threaten to descend into an economic conflict EU diplomats were accused of “bullying”, while the bloc’s policies were billed as “protectionist” efforts to decouple from China. At the acrimonious event hosted by the European Union on Tuesday, the two sides bickered not only over policy but also over who was at fault for the broad deterioration in their ties. The blame game suggests that an off-ramp in their rapid descent towards a trade war may be hard to find. On one fiery panel billed as “EU-China trade relations, partnership or sinking ship?”, top European business figures and observers looked exasperated as Chinese speakers disregarded their insistence that Europe remained comparably open to Chinese goods. “It is neither a sinking ship nor a partnership – it’s a 400-metre-long giant container ship loaded with 24,000 containers going to Europe and coming back almost empty,” said Jens Eskelund, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

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