Europe won't yield to terms for trade as Washington, Brussels engage in talks

The European Union will not decouple from the Chinese economy as a condition for reaching a trade deal with the US government as Brussels and Washington engage in trade talks, according to the European Commission.

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the US intends to use its tariff talks with more than 70 countries to limit their trade with China. The Irish Times reported that the US will seek to force the EU to choose between the US and China based on a government briefing following a trip to the US by Simon Harris, Ireland's minister for defense, foreign affairs and trade.

READ MORE: China, EU vow to jointly uphold multilateral trading system

European Commission deputy chief spokesperson Arianna Podesta said she would not speculate on what the requests by the US side are.

"The two parties are discussing what are the elements where a win-win outcome can be reached," she told the daily news briefing on Tuesday in response to a question raised by China Daily.

"This is distinct from our relationship with China … Our policy toward China remains the same since quite a while."

She noted that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has talked about the EU-China relations on a number of occasions and has also been in contact with Chinese counterparts.

Podesta reiterated that the EU's policy is to de-risk, not to decouple from China.

When asked about US President Donald Trump blaming EU's VAT system, EU's rules on Big Tech companies and its food regulations as unfair trade advantages, Podesta did not answer directly but said the commission won't compromise on the safety and well-being of its citizens.

Trump and von der Leyen will both attend the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday morning. European Commission has no information if the two will meet for the first time since Trump took office in late January.

Von der Leyen told Politico on Tuesday that "in a more and more unpredictable global environment, countries are lining up to work with us". She did not name Trump or the US, which is widely viewed in Europe as a disrupter of the global rules-based economic and trading system.

Multilateral trading system

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on the UK and the EU to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system during his phone conversations, respectively, with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger.

Creon Butler, director for the global economy and finance program at Chatham House, wrote in an article on the think tank's website: "Instead of being a force for international stability and problem-solving, the US is now a key source of global economic uncertainty. US policy appears to be driven by narrowly defined national interests and a transactional approach, with no place for values, principles, rules and long-term alliances."

He said other countries need to plan on the basis that the shift in US approach will be permanent and look beyond the immediate requirement of managing their individual ties with the Trump administration.

"A fracturing of this economic order poses an existential threat to the EU. The EU therefore has a strong interest in responding to Trump's actions by leading an effort to preserve an international economic system based on values, principles and rules," he wrote.

ALSO READ: China, EU committed to upholding free, open trade

Andre Sapir, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank, also said the EU should form an international open trade coalition in response to US tariffs.

He said EU leaders should engage with the leaders of G20 and non-G20 countries to agree on a statement for open and rules-based trade embodied by the World Trade Organization.

"Today, the United States is rejecting the basic tenets of the world trading system by adopting unilateral protectionist measures that will harm not only our nations but the entire world, including the United States," Sapir wrote in a draft letter he recommended for world leaders.

"We will not follow the protectionist path chosen by the United States. Instead, we will refrain from raising new barriers to trade and investment and respect WTO rules in our mutual relations,"Sapir wrote on the Bruegel website.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn