China-EU trade: commercial ties ‘hard to break’ despite disagreement over Ukraine war

Name: China-Europe rail freight reaches 50,000-train milestone amid rising EU-Beijing tensions
Uploaded: 2022-04-15T20:30:23.000Z
Duration: 1 min 43 s
Description: China-Europe rail freight reaches 50,000-train milestone amid rising EU-Beijing tensions

China surpassed the United States to become the European Union’s largest trading partner in 2020-21 thanks to strong demand during the pandemic

Despite EU frustrations with Beijing over its stance on the Ukraine war, trade ties will be hard to break, regardless of attempts by European policymakers to diversify

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China surpassed the United States to become the EU’s largest trading partner in 2020-21. Pictured is Chinese President Xi Jinping, meeting virtually with German, French, EU and European Council leaders in December 2002. Photo: Xinhua

Kandy Wong

Published: 4:30am, 16 Apr 2022Updated: 6:03am, 16 Apr 2022

Trade between China and the European Union (EU) could see some minor strains over Beijing’s stance on the Ukraine war, but decoupling is unlikely given the entrenched commercial relationship and impracticality of diversifying supply chains, experts say.

China surpassed the United States to become the EU’s largest trading partner in 2020-21 thanks to strong demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

The EU trade in goods with China was worth €587.9 billion (US$637.2 billion) in 2020 and €695.5 billion in 2021, according to Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics database.

The EU trade in goods with the US was valued at €556.2 billion in 2020 and €631.4 billion in 2021.

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China-Europe rail freight reaches 50,000-train milestone amid rising EU-Beijing tensions

Despite booming trade, the EU-China relationship has become strained over the past two years, with a long-negotiated investment deal between the two suspended in May last year.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has renewed EU frustrations with China, which has voiced support for Moscow and opposed sanctions on the country.

“China-EU trade will change in the short term not due to China’s stance on Ukraine,” said Wang Jue, associate fellow at Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific programme. “But it’ll be affected by reasons related to the war, such as railway interruption, technical and logistical issues, as well as energy supply.”