Von der Leyen's China 'ultimatum' another symptom of EU's challenge, not a solution: China Daily editorial

The irony is glaring. When US President Donald Trump openly threatens 100 percent tariffs on European goods if the European Union dares to tax digital services, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is reserved — as if Europe deserves its fate.

However, she displays no such "reticence" when it comes to the EU's trade differences with China, declaring that Brussels has "all instruments on the table" unless Beijing delivers "tangible results" by October.

What she seemingly fails to appreciate is that all Western leaders who have employed such maximalist rhetoric regarding trade with China in recent years have eventually sat down for talks to resolve their concerns.

The first talks of the China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism last week between China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic were exactly that: "intensive, focused and constructive", in Sefcovic's own words. To follow this with belligerent public deadlines is to undermine the very process Von der Leyen claims to champion. It is highly improper, and frankly puzzling, for a politician of her standing and experience.

She may be talking tough to Beijing to divert internal attention from her weak hand in the EU's trade and security dispute with Washington. Last year's trade talks with the US were characterized by EU concessions, inviting sharp criticism from EU capitals. Now, it seems that she is trying to reclaim the mantle of a "defender" of European interests by picking a fight with Beijing shortly after Trump issued new tariff threats to the EU.

But while Von der Leyen issues "ultimatums", she seems out of step with many EU members. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will wrap up a weeklong tour to Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway on Wednesday. He also met Austria's top diplomat in Beijing late last month. In Stockholm, Wang met with the Wallenberg family — pioneers of European investment in China since the 1970s — who pledged to continue to invest in China, deeply engage in China, and integrate into China's market. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson affirmed support for strengthening dialogue between the EU and China and properly handling differences.

Other discussions between Wang and officials and business representatives in the host countries these days have sent similar signals. Von der Leyen should take heed that individual EU economies and businesses want stable, healthy economic ties with China.

One only has to recall the recent case of Chinese-made electric vehicles to realize that Von der Leyen's "threats" are unwarranted. The dispute stoked by the EU was eventually resolved through negotiation after months of EU blustering.

If some EU policymakers genuinely believe that the bloc's €360 billion ($411.91 billion) trade deficit with China last year represents leverage rather than the EU's own structural weakening of competitiveness in some sectors and its banning of high-tech exports to China, they are indulging in a convenient delusion. With such reasoning, the deficit becomes grounds for launching a trade war should Beijing refuse to yield. Yet if trade deficits were a source of bargaining power, any economy running a "trade imbalance" would have a ready-made "justification" for economic confrontation. The proposition collapses under its own weight.

A trade deficit is not a weapon but a phenomenon — of consumption patterns, industrial capacity, comparative advantage, etc. To treat it as casus belli for a trade war is an admission of analytical failure cloaked in political bravado.

Over the past decades, the EU has enjoyed "comfortable" prosperity partly because Russia provided cheap energy, the US guaranteed its security and China offered a vast market and affordable supplies. Now, under Von der Leyen's leadership, the bloc risks fouling its nest on all three fronts simultaneously.

When China extends its hand to the EU for far-sighted cooperation and global coordination — across trade, green transition, and multilateral governance — certain European politicians respond by stubbornly paddling their oars in the stagnant waters of a zero-sum game, animated by a musty Cold War mentality. Their failure to envision mutual gain and manage differences is a direct contributor to Europe's declining competitiveness.

If the EU shuts out China's competitive green products, it will succeed chiefly in making its own green transition costlier and its industrial base less competitive. In trying to protect itself from Chinese competition, the bloc is poised to damage its own economic future.

The EU's industrial edge has dulled, in no small part because its political class has allowed its strategic judgment to atrophy, mistaking protectionist posturing for statecraft and rhetorical brinkmanship for resolve. In a world that demands agility, they offer rigidity — and call it "principle".

China has years of experience responding to extreme pressure and will strictly defend its legal rights and interests. It is willing to use established consultation channels with the EU for equal-footed talks. But it will never succumb to threats. Von der Leyen's attempt to apply pressure only exposes which side is blinking first. The EU cannot afford to trade its economic future for a display of bravado that fools no one.

If the EU fixates solely on carving up the existing economic pie "equally" with China, while neglecting the far harder task of making that pie larger, it will ultimately find its own slice shrinking — not because China is taking it, but because the EU cannot see the bigger pie.