EU trade official downplays likelihood of Trump triggering warm ties with China

As the EU prepares for a big week of diplomacy with China, a senior official has poured cold water on the suggestion that the bloc will move closer to Beijing because of its troubles with Washington since US President Donald Trump began his second term.

Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will all travel to China next week, with some expecting a thaw in ties after Trump upended the transatlantic alliance with a series of tariff threats and other policy shifts.

Considering Europe, the US and China as a triangle, many analysts have posited that one angle pulling further away would mean the other two necessarily grow closer, an idea the European Commission’s deputy director general for trade Maria Martin-Prat framed as “very catchy, but simplistic thinking”.

“I think maybe that was a bit simplistic … I have the impression that we are going to have such an economic fragmentation that you will be talking about different figures of geometry in different sectors,” she said.

Asked about a more cooperative tone adopted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in two speeches earlier this year, which suggested that the EU and China could deepen trade and investment ties, the official said the German’s words should be considered alongside continued efforts to de-risk relations with Beijing.

“I think you need to read the political messages sent by the president of the Commission, but also the policies she is putting in place, and I think that’s what gives you the overall picture,” Martin-Prat said at an event in Brussels on Friday.