Spectre of Trump inspires EU fight on China’s economic strong-arming

A proposed legislative instrument aimed at Donald Trump’s trade tariffs is being seen by the EU as an important tool against Beijing coercion

Australia’s experience of Chinese bans on its exports has been seen as a cautionary tale by many European countries

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Australian wines on sale in Shanghai, days before China hit them with tariffs which made them unviable on the Chinese market. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00pm, 7 Aug 2021Updated: 8:00pm, 7 Aug 2021

In April last year, as the first wave of the pandemic ripped through Europe, demands erupted on Chinese social media for a halt to shipments of masks and other personal protective equipment to the Netherlands, where the death toll from Covid-19 was steadily rising.

The internet users had picked up on a row over a Dutch proposal to redesignate a trade and investment office in Taiwan as the “Netherlands Office Taipei” – to the fury of the Chinese embassy in Amsterdam. The Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid affiliated to Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, reported the story with the headline: “Netizens call for Dutch products boycott, halt to medical exports over Taiwan”.

The embargo never happened, but the backlash was noted in Amsterdam, as well as in Brussels.

European Union officials had already been formulating an “anti-coercion instrument” designed initially to counter the “weaponisation” of trade by former US president Donald Trump, whose penchant for tariffs hit European businesses, as well as Chinese.

But as the pandemic unfolded and China started to more obviously weaponise access to its giant consumer market, it became clear in Brussels that such an instrument was needed to counter Beijing too.

According to officials from multiple EU member states, calculations have been made in ministries across the continent as to the costs of being cut off from the Chinese market in key sectors, should someone say or do the wrong thing.

No European economy is as exposed to China as Australia’s, but many governments have noted its cautionary tale. China impeded Australian exports of coal, wine, barley, beef, and other products over Canberra’s demands for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19 – on top of a litany of other issues, including a call for Taiwan to be admitted to the World Health Organization.