US President Donald Trump is waiting to welcome the British Prime Minister Keira Starmer at the entrance to the west wing of the White House in Washington, February 27, 2025.
Carl Court AFP Getty images
The tensions between the USA and Europe have achieved something low in recent weeks – and China could use a dispute to strengthen their relations on the continent.
Transatlantic strains appeared last week during the catastrophic meeting of US President Donald Trump, vice president of JD Vance and the president of Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an oval office. What began as a potential signing of a critical mineral agreement ended with a public screaming match.
Trump was also repeated with the EU import tariffs and said that the block was “formed to fuck the United States.” Meanwhile, Vance last month at a security conference in Munich took over Europe, saying that he was worried about “a threat from the inside.”
This strain in the so -called “special relationship” Beijing became an unexpected ally and supporter of Europe, and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited the continent last month to encourage closer ties and greater cooperation.
“China clearly reacts to the offensive charm, trying to introduce themselves as a stabilizing force and a potential alternative pole, using European fears and counting on a reset on their own conditions of Beijing,” said CNBC Alijja Bachulska, a political worker at the European Council of Foreign Relations.
Wang said that both the EU and Ukraine were cut off from unexpected peace conversations with Russia At a security conference in Munich, which China hopes that all parties can participate in peace conversations about the end of the war in Ukraine. “When the war takes place in European land, it is all the more necessary for Europe to play its role in peace,” he said in the comments reported by Reuters.
For Beijing, expressing support for the role of Europe in peaceful negotiations in Ukraine is a “cheap way” to signal respect for the EU and “draw a contrast with Trump”, according to Gabriel Wildau, managing director at Teneo.
“China is aimed at obtaining a strategic impact on Europe, as their investment and trade policy shows. Expeditions in the context of Ukraine should be evaluated in this light, “said Eurasia Group, president of Eurasia Group political risk.
Not “slaves” for Americans
When Trump doubles patronistic policies, analysts say that China can gain from Europe free of US pressure to impose sanctions and restrictions on Beijing.
Europe has historically commonly adapted to the US trade policy to protect Western technological innovations and its economic interests.
Take the Dutch manufacturer of equipment ASMLFor example, whose sale of advanced devices for the production of semiconductors was limited by the Dutch government tracking US export control.
“Many European clamps in China were at the request of the USA that in a sense is part of the price of tame … and the US -dependent defense,” said CNBC David Roche, Quantum Strategy strategy, said CNBC.
“Europeans can be hit (potential tariffs), but they will no longer be slaves of Americans,” said Roche.
A broken transatlantic alliance can therefore benefit Beijing, because Europe becomes “less susceptible” to US pressure, said Wildau Teneo, which can lead to the withdrawal of existing export controls or at least stopping new ones.
Europe needs help
One example of a change in commercial policy may be the current tariffs of the European Union to Chinese vehicles, according to Wildau, who said that the block leaders may come to the conclusion that they do not have “no choice” but to reverse the course.
The European automotive industry was Under the growing pressure When car manufacturers are fighting many winds, from crossing to electric vehicles, growing competition from China, and now with the threat of American tariffs.
Chinese cooperation can help in Europe in the production of parts needed for its EVS, enabling the block of storming technology and achieving its goals of sustainable development, he suggested that this is one gap that China can potentially fill.
“The reality is that in the widest sense of the word, Europe must look for alternative markets for the USA of China,” Roche added.
The last movements of President Trump caused leaders in Europe, and the German Friedrich Merz eloquent The public broadcaster in a speech after the victory of their party last week that the US is now “indifferent” to the fate of Europe and that his priority is “achieving independence from the US.”
“Merz comments will not be unnoticed by Beijing”, Thanos Papasavvas, founder and investment director Archbishop Invest said CNBC via e -mail: “The key question here is whether traditional business relations in Germany with China would also be visible in the same style by other Member States.”
Still the same China
Some analysts say that it is not clear how much progress can be made when repairing, which has long been tense relationships between Europe and China.
“After all, they are still the same China, which the EU had to deal with for the last few years – China, which support Russia, China, which threaten industrial power in Europe, and China, which impose sanctions on European officials and civil society organizations,” said the European Council for foreign relations.
Bremmer from the Eurasia Group added that ultimately Beijing's efforts to restore relations with Europe are in line with the wider target of the West as a whole by undermining the bond between Europe and the USA
“Europeans will not be expelled from the US by the transaction policy adopted in Washington, but openly hostile, predatory,” he said. “If this trend persists, transatlantic partners are heading towards division.”