BRUSSELS (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has had a busy few weeks hosting Western allies seeking closer ties with the world’s second-largest economy.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a trade deal that slashed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian canola oil.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing this week to repair years of strained relations, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to arrive next month. Finnish Prime Minister Petri Orpo is also one of the latest European leaders to shake hands with Xi Jinping.
The world order has undergone a major shift since President Donald Trump took office again, with America’s closest partners exploring opportunities with China following a clash with him over tariffs and his demand to take over Greenland from NATO ally Denmark. Despite the risk of angering Trump, they are rebuilding ties with a country long considered a top adversary and America’s top economic rival by many Western allies.
“We are engaging broadly and strategically with our eyes wide open,” Carney told a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, shortly after returning from Beijing last week. “We are actively accepting the world as it is rather than waiting for the world we want it to be.”
Some leaders, lawmakers and experts lamented a shift that could harm Washington’s interests and tip the scales in Beijing’s favor, while others said China posed as much a challenge as the United States as both countries pressed for their own interests. Regardless, the way countries align themselves with the world’s two superpowers is changing.
“Instead of building a united front against China, we are pushing our closest allies into their arms,” U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a hearing this week.
When reporters asked about Starmer’s visit to Beijing, Trump said “it’s very dangerous for them to do that.”
“I think it’s more dangerous for Canada to do business with China,” said Trump himself, who is expected to visit Beijing in April. “Canada is not doing well. They are doing very poorly. And you can’t look to China as the answer.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Callas acknowledged that China posed a long-term challenge with its “coercive economic practices” but added, “Like I said, different partnerships with different countries around the world.”
Although Europe is rethinking its strategic approach, “it is not China-centric,” said Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova, director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs in Riga. “It’s a pivot to somehow defend Europe as a bloc.”
Europe’s Dilemma with the United States and China
Alicia Gracia-Herrero, an Asia-Pacific economist at French investment bank Natixis and an expert on Europe’s relations with China, said that in order to bypass the EU leadership in Brussels, Beijing is engaging in one-on-one contacts with European governments.
She said China wants to maintain the status quo with Europe: easy access to wealthy consumers while offering few concessions to European companies entering the Chinese market.
“They need Europe, but they don’t need to fight for Europe,” Gracia-Herrero said.
Tim Ruiliger, a senior analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, believes that Europe’s relationship with the world’s two largest economies is undergoing an irreversible transformation.
“For the United States, it’s Greenland. For China, it’s the rare earth export controls in October,” he said. “Both developments, in my view, contribute significantly to Europe’s understanding that we are faced with two major powers that are not shy about bullying the EU.”
European leaders visit China for much the same reasons as Trump: China’s massive economy, its role in global affairs and the need to establish reliable communication channels.
“Everyone goes to Beijing, including those who don’t want us to go to China,” said Joerg Wuttke, former president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and now a partner at the consulting firm DGA Group.
Canada leads the way
In 2024, then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in lockstep with the Biden administration, imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to protect the U.S. auto industry.
During Carney’s high-profile trip to Beijing this month – the first by a Canadian prime minister in eight years – he slashed tariffs in exchange for lower import taxes on Canadian agricultural products. Carney called the Canada-China trade relationship “more predictable,” a swipe at Trump’s tariff threats against Canada.
After Carney returned home, Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canada’s trade deal with China. Carney called it a “roar.”
In Davos, Carney condemned the coercion of smaller countries by big powers but did not mention Trump by name. “The middle powers have to act together because even if we are not at the table, we will be on the menu,” he said.
These words resonated across Europe.
European countries are recalibrating relations with Beijing
Starmer took a big step this week by becoming the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years. The two countries have been at odds over issues including security, Chinese technology and Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the former British colony of Hong Kong.
But this week Starmer and Xi Jinping called for a strategic partnership. “Working together on issues like climate change, global stability, etc., at a very challenging time for the world, is exactly what we should be doing when we build this relationship in the way I have described,” Starmer told Xi Jinping in Beijing.
The trip resulted in a series of business announcements and government deals, including a reduction in Chinese tariffs on Scotch whiskey and 30 days of visa-free travel to China for British tourists and business travelers.
A few days ago, Finnish Prime Minister Orpo sat down with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and signed an agreement to cooperate on sustainable construction, energy and animal disease management.
A Finnish government statement said Orbo also called on China to help Ukraine achieve lasting peace, pointed out trade imbalances and called attention to human rights issues.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung have also visited in the past few weeks.
Mertz will now visit Beijing for the first time as German Chancellor. He has taken a tougher stance on China than his predecessor and is expected to recalibrate relations while addressing some of the country’s concerns: the trade deficit and dependence on China for critical minerals.
As Europe and other U.S. allies move closer to Beijing, some analysts warn of dangerous divisions in the West.
Scott Kennedy, senior adviser for China business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “It is impossible for the United States and Western countries to unite and isolate China as appropriate, nor to set and enforce conditions for connectivity and cooperation.”
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Don reported from Washington.
