EU urged to adopt pragmatic approach

The European Union should approach China-EU trade ties with pragmatism, acknowledging their mutually beneficial foundations and managing frictions through dialogue rather than allowing them to escalate, said market watchers and business leaders on both sides.

In recent years, the EU has framed its approach to China around economic competition and "de-risking", introducing a range of protectionist measures under the banner of "economic security" and "fair competition", they said.

The bloc has imposed restrictions on semiconductors, 5G and electric vehicles, and taken discriminatory and restrictive measures against Chinese companies, disrupting the smooth and stable functioning of global industrial and supply chains.

In addition to urging the Dutch government to revoke its administrative order against Nexperia, a Chinese-owned semiconductor company based in the Netherlands, China on Tuesday imposed provisional countervailing duty deposits on imports of certain dairy products from the EU, and levied antidumping duties on EU pork and pork by-products last week to safeguard domestic industries.

Chen Fengying, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that China's moves are conducted in accordance with domestic and international rules and regulations. However, some of the EU's recent actions risk obstructing the healthy and stable development of China-EU economic and trade ties.

"Despite ongoing frictions, China and the EU remain economically interdependent, with complementary demand and tightly linked supply chains," said Chen, adding that such interdependence underscores the need for both sides to identify practical areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, including automotive manufacturing, technology and green energy.

That assessment is echoed on the European side. Timo Jaatinen, permanent secretary of Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, said that Finland welcomes greater investment from Chinese companies and is willing to work with China to deepen cooperation in areas such as green development and the digital economy.

Yan Shaohua, deputy director at Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that trade frictions reflect the adjustment process underway in China-EU economic ties, rather than an inevitable drift toward confrontation.

Similar views were shared by Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing. "Given the depth of mutual interdependence, decoupling is unlikely, underscoring the need to manage disputes through dialogue to sustain cooperation, support global growth and limit the costs of protectionism,"Wang said.

Trade figures highlight that reality. The EU remained China's second-largest trading partner in the first 11 months of 2025, as bilateral trade rose 5.4 percent year-on-year to 5.37 trillion yuan ($764 billion), representing 13 percent of China's total foreign trade, said the General Administration of Customs.

With its products mainly shipped to markets in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, Pan Shengdao, vice-president of Saina (Suzhou) Co Ltd — a manufacturer of safety footwear in Taicang, Jiangsu province — said that stable China–EU business ties ultimately benefit companies and consumers on both sides.

The Chinese company's total foreign trade value reached about 580 million yuan between January and November, up 2.3 percent year-on-year, according to Nanjing Customs.

When China's Hainan Free Trade Port launched its island-wide special customs operations last week, Germany's Siemens Energy AG established a new branch and broke ground on a gas turbine assembly base and service center in Danzhou, Hainan province.

Joern Schmuecker, Siemens Energy's senior vice-president for gas services, said that establishing a gas turbine assembly base and service center in Hainan aligns with the FTP's vision of becoming a new high ground for openness and international cooperation.

zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn