EU trade chief heads to China for prickly talks amid EV and de-risking disputes
- Valdis Dombrovskis makes his first trip to China as EU economics commissioner, a four-day tour of Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou
- Issues include EU inquiry into state subsidies for electric vehicle manufacturers and the bloc’s de-risking policy, which both trouble Chinese officials
European Union trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis touches down in China on Friday on a mission to debunk and defuse.
A swirling row over electric vehicles and Chinese anxiety over the EU’s de-risking plans are high on the agenda of a four-day tour of Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou that will mark Dombrovskis’ first trip to China in three years as head of arguably the most powerful branch of the European Commission.
The trip to the Chinese capital is one of a series by EU officials. New digital boss Vera Jourova went last week, while energy commissioner Kadri Simson is set for a visit next week and top diplomat Josep Borrell next month. But few have Dombrovskis’ standing.
Trade is one of the few areas where Brussels sets policy for the EU’s 27 member states, and the soft-spoken Latvian’s term has been synonymous with a more pugnacious EU stance towards China, as geopolitical tensions have flared.
Dombrovskis is to sit down with He Lifeng, the Chinese vice-premier overseeing economic issues, on Monday for talks that, while the centrepiece of the trip, are usually highly structured scripted affairs. Dombrovskis is thought to believe that what happens in the margins is just as important.
Officials and diplomats who have worked in Beijing complain that their counterparts in Brussels have struggled to grasp how much China has changed during President Xi Jinping’s decade at the helm. Others believe that the ailing Chinese economy gives Europe some rare leverage: can Beijing afford to allow strained ties to slip further?