Tensions between the EU and China have flared up across diplomatic and economic channels.
China on Monday attacked the bloc’s Made-in-Europe strategy aimed at promoting local industry and threatened to retaliate; Beijing also chastised Brussels for including Chinese companies in its latest anti-Russia sanctions package.
The escalations come as new data shows that a flood of Chinese EVs to the European market led Beijing to a record trade surplus with the EU in the first quarter, fueling the bloc’s push to shield strategic industries.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent is facing a “unique moment where a US president, a Russian president, a Chinese president are dead against the Europeans.”