Europe tries to deal with Chinese economic advances
BRUSSELS — They are creating defenses to limit Chinese investment, accusing China of seizing technology from foreign companies and warning of Chinese efforts to undermine their political system.
It may all sound like a game plan hatched by officials in Washington, but the agenda is straight out of Brussels. While President Donald Trump battles China over the issue of trade, Europe is in the midst of a conflict with Beijing that, in its own way, is just as intense.
European leaders have become increasingly alarmed by what they consider China’s aggressive incursions into the continent’s economy, including paying $23 million to expand port facilities in Bulgaria, providing $3.8 billion in financing for a highspeed railroad connecting Hungary and Serbia, and acquiring a German robotics company that employs 14,000 people worldwide.
Now Brussels is passing laws to counter China’s influence in the region. Last month, in a move clearly directed at China, European lawmakers and political leaders agreed on a system to scrutinize investments in the 28-member bloc as a way of protecting key industries.
“We want to have a better overview when certain critical infrastructure is targeted by them,” Cecilia Malmstrom, the European trade commissioner, told an audience in Brussels last month.
European politicians are also frustrated that although they have many of the same concerns as their American counterparts about China, there has been little cooperation or coordination in their strategies. Rather than joining forces to contain China’s economic expansionism, the Trump administration has treated Europe with disdain.
“We had some serious differences in the past,” said Marietje Schaake, the vice chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the United States. “But it has become much more confrontational, at the worst possible moment.”
There were signs of a possible thaw after Trump and members of his administration met with German car executives at the White House on Tuesday. Those on both sides described the atmosphere as friendly.
Representatives of BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen described plans to expand manufacturing in the United States, which could tamp down Trump’s complaints that Europe exports far more cars to America than the other way around.
Some White House officials, including Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, and Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, have consistently argued that friction with Europe is a distraction from the more urgent task of reining in China. And behind the scenes, Malmstrom said, American, European and Japanese officials are having “quite constructive discussions” about trade with China.
But conversations with officials in Brussels make it clear that the relationship between the European Union and the United States has deteriorated significantly since Trump took office, and they are unsure how or if it can be salvaged.