At Davos, EU leader stresses ‘de-risking rather than decoupling’ from China
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen underscores divergence from US position while discussing EU climate-related Net-Zero Industry Act
- Acknowledging Europe’s ‘98 per cent’ dependence on China for minerals critical to clean energy, she tells World Economic Forum EU must ‘work and trade with China’
In competing with the US on clean energy programmes, the European Union plans to revise its business dealings with China, “de-risking, rather than decoupling” from the world’s second-largest economy, Ursula von der Leyen, the bloc’s president, told the World Economic Forum this week.
Acknowledging Europe’s “98 per cent” dependence on China for critical minerals that are expected to play key roles in transitioning to clean energy, von der Leyen still criticised Beijing for heavily subsidising its “energy-sensitive companies” and called for a “level playing field”.
However, she told the forum on Tuesday, Europe needed to “work and trade with China”.
“We need to refocus our approach on de-risking, rather than decoupling,” she added, underscoring the EU’s divergence from the US approach on trade with China.
Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said that both the US and China were using economics as leverage to support their national security and foreign policy objectives.