{"id":457347,"date":"2026-06-19T10:30:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T08:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/19\/competitivita-i-leader-ue-esplorano-nuovi-strumenti-anti-cina-ma-senza-conclusioni-e-senza-menzionare-pechino\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:18:15","slug":"competitiveness-eu-leaders-explore-new-anti-china-tools-with-no-conclusions-and-without-mentioning-beijing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/19\/competitiveness-eu-leaders-explore-new-anti-china-tools-with-no-conclusions-and-without-mentioning-beijing\/","title":{"rendered":"Competitiveness: EU leaders explore new anti\u2011China tools (with no conclusions, and without mentioning Beijing)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 A firm response, but without causing a rift. Countermeasures, but not like Donald Trump’s knee-jerk tariffs. On international trade and competitiveness , the heads of state and government of EU countries are attempting to lay the groundwork for a European strategy that can place the Union in a more balanced <\/strong>economic and trade position \u2013 and thus a more competitive one \u2013 without compromising the functioning of the global rules-based system. This is no easy task; it is a delicate process, the complexity of which is reflected in the lack of conclusions<\/strong> from a European Council summit, even as it mandates the European Commission draw up measures and strategies going forward.<\/p>\n

The sensitivity of an issue that is difficult to explain without making references is also a reason for the lack of “pieces of paper.” It should be borne in mind that the tariff agreement<\/a> between the EU and the United States favours Washington more than Brussels<\/a> and other European capitals, and not merely because of a 15 per cent levy on “Made in the EU” goods sold across the Atlantic, compared with the zero duty on US products sold on the Old Continent. There is an imbalance in industrial and investment policies with the United States<\/a> that the EU has deliberately accepted, in the name of its much-vaunted competitiveness and strategic autonomy.<\/p>\n

Then there is China, never mentioned even in the insiders\u2019 accounts. According to well-informed sources, the leaders held a general discussion. The 27 acknowledged the existence of global macroeconomic imbalances that require a European response based on two pillars: European unity and dialogue with key economic partners.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/10\/28\/ecb-china-influence-eurozone-increases\/<\/a><\/p>\n

No unilateral initiatives and, therefore, a policy that remains one of open multilateralism. For this reason, and on this point the leaders agreed, the EU as a whole must \u201ccontinue to diversify trade, reduce risks, decrease dependencies, and strengthen its strategic autonomy.\u201d This position of principle is also a vote of confidence in the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and her desire to conclude trade agreements<\/a> with the EU\u2019s global partners. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The issue of China comes to the fore when heads of state and government insist that \u201cf<\/strong>air global competition requires a level playing field.<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span> It is here that China is referred to without being explicitly named. After all, from \u2018Made in China\u2019 steel dating back ten years to electric cars<\/a> and medical devices<\/a>, bilateral relations between the EU and Beijing are full of practical examples of the Asian country\u2019s way of doing business. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whether or not this is more or less about China, the leaders have asked the Commission to focus on two specific aspects<\/strong>: first and foremost, to continue engaging in constructive dialogue with the main economic partners to defend the EU’s economic and security interests. It is specified here that \u201cthis dialogue must produce results<\/strong>\u201d. At the same time, and this is the second aspect, countermeasures must be put in place should the desired results not be achieved: here, according to EU sources, the Heads of State and Government have asked the European Commission to \u201c<\/span>develop and, where possible, expand the range of available tools<\/a> in the field of trade defence and industrial policy<\/strong>, to ensure that the European Union has all the necessary tools to defend its interests and mitigate risks.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heads of State and Government limit themselves to discussing macroeconomic imbalances, and give the European Commission a mandate to explore new measures to combat unfair competition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":457344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[279,488,1666,938,937,26027],"class_list":["post-457347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-cina","tag-commercio","tag-european-council","tag-export","tag-import","tag-vertice-dei-leader-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457348,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457347\/revisions\/457348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}