Finnish leader: Protectionism detrimental

Additional tariffs and trade protectionism are always short-term measures that are detrimental to both national and global economies, visiting Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said.

He said at a news conference on Tuesday evening in Beijing that the European Union and China need to avoid going into a cycle of raising tariffs and escalating trade conflicts.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, announced later on Tuesday the imposition of anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, a decision that sparked strong opposition from some EU member states and key industry stakeholders.

In July and early October, Finland abstained twice in the votes on EU provisional tariffs on EVs made in China, as it said that there was not enough proof of damage caused to the EU by so-called Chinese state support to the EV industry.

Stubb said that "we need to have a level playing field and this is the ongoing negotiation".

Right now, unfortunately, a lot of countries are turning inward and raising barriers, rather than promoting free trade, he added.

"I think the pendulum, if there was one between free trade and protectionism, since 1989, the end of the Cold War, has swung from free trade toward protectionism," Stubb said, emphasizing that free trade benefits the global good rather than just a narrow national interest.

The Finnish president is currently in China for a four-day state visit, during which he had a three-hour talk with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, which Stubb said was a "constructive, open and frank "conversation.

"With President Xi, we had a good opportunity to talk about bilateral relations. We are celebrating the 74th anniversary of Finland-China diplomatic relations, and we're moving into our 75th year."

This is the first visit to China by a Finnish president since the European nation became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last year. Stubb said that Finland's NATO membership does not negatively affect its relations with China.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, making the Ukraine conflict an issue of great concern for Helsinki.

As a major agenda item during talks with Xi, Stubb said that both China and Finland are seeking peace in Ukraine.

Peace negotiations are extremely complicated, he said, adding that the two countries agreed to continue to work toward peace in Ukraine and keep dialogue open on both sides.

The Finnish president is one of two leaders from EU member countries to visit China this week. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will make an official visit starting on Thursday.

Slovakia, which relies heavily on its car industry, was one of the five countries to vote against the EU tariffs on China-produced EVs earlier this month.

When responding to a question on whether China had invited European leaders to visit China in rapid succession to urge them to play a constructive role in relation to the EU's tariff increase on Chinese-made EVs, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a news conference on Wednesday that China and Europe have normal exchanges at various levels.

Trade frictions should be dealt with properly through dialogue and consultation based on mutual respect, which is in the interests of both China and the EU, Lin added.