Xi Jinping urged the European Union on Friday to join China's efforts to thwart "unilateral bullying" trade efforts in a veiled reference to President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs of 145% unleashed this week against Beijing.
"China and Europe should fulfill their international responsibilities and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices," China's president said during a meeting Friday with Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing, according to multiple media oulets. He added such efforts would not only "safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also ... safeguard international fairness and justice."
Xi's plea came a day after Australia rejected a similar offer from Chinese Ambassador Xiao Qian, who argued joint resistance is "the only way" to stop the "hegemonic and bullying behavior of the U.S.," the BBC reported. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his nation would "speak for ourselves," and Defense Minister Richard Marles said the nation would not be "holding China's hand."
Sanchez, who heads the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, told a news conference following his meeting with Xi that tensions over trade should not impede cooperation between the 27-nation European Union and China.
China is Spain's fourth-largest trading partner and has a significant trade surplus with Madrid. Spain buys about $49.1 billion of goods every year from China but sells about $8.4 billion.
"Both Spain and Europe have a significant trade deficit with China that we must work to rectify," Sanchez said. "We must not let trade tensions stand in the way of the potential growth of the relationship between China and Spain and between China and the EU."
Trump on Wednesday put a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs against most of the U.S.'s largest trading partners but maintained 10% tariffs on nearly all global imports. However, he escalated tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%. China retaliated by placing 125% tariffs on U.S. imports.
In his last trip to China in September, Sanchez urged the EU to reconsider plans to impose high tariffs on Chinese electric cars and calling for a "fair trade order," Agence France-Presse reported. The EU argued that the tariffs were necessary to protect European producers from unfair competition from state-backed Chinese firms.
Sanchez's visit to China followed a trip to Vietnam, where he and Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh signed a joint declaration aiming to elevate ties to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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