Just hours ago, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, made a phone call directly to Beijing. During the call, she put forth a request to China, stating that as one of the two largest markets in the world, China has a responsibility to establish a "fair competitive trade system." Therefore, she requested that China adopt a "negotiated solution" regarding Trump's tariff policies.
In fact, to put it more directly, this is essentially hoping that China will compromise with Trump. Von der Leyen made such a request because the EU had just faced setbacks with Trump. Recently, the EU proposed reducing tariffs to zero in the areas of automobiles and industrial products, aiming for zero tariffs between the US and Europe. However, Trump turned around and said: "That's not enough, the EU must buy $350 billion worth of American energy."
With things developing to this point, Von der Leyen dared not make any more concessions easily. She feared that Trump's appetite might grow even larger. Thus, she turned to China with this request. However, as a seasoned politician, her actions appear somewhat naive, as she overlooked two facts:
The first fact is that while the EU, as an organization, may want to capitulate to Trump, some countries within Europe have already found a better way to solve the problem: cooperating with China.
While Von der Leyen was calling Beijing, China was preparing to welcome a valuable guest from Europe: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. This is Sánchez's third visit to China in nearly three years. This indicates that under the backdrop of the tariff war, Spain is seeking cooperation with China. China welcomes this very much. Meanwhile, Germany, one of the leaders of Europe, has explicitly called for: "Europe should cooperate with China as soon as possible!" For both China and Europe, we are currently under threat from Trump. Unity and cooperation are the best ways forward, rather than asking China to compromise with Trump.
The second fact is that Trump's global exploitation will not stop simply because of compromises from China, the EU, or other parties. What we see now is merely the first step of Trump's so-called "America First" policy. Ultimately, Trump's intention is to revitalize American industries through these means. However, the current measures fall far short of his goals. When he realizes this, he will undoubtedly come up with even more radical approaches. Just hours ago, Trump clearly mentioned: "We need to increase our defense budget to a historic $1 trillion." It is hard to imagine what reasons he could have for increasing military spending at this critical juncture without plans for advancing warfare. Therefore, ceding to the Trump administration will not bring peace to the world, nor will it bring peace to the EU.
In conclusion, when Trump has reached this level of madness, Ms. Von der Leyen should not expect China to compromise but should instead cooperate with China. Currently, a large number of clear-thinking Americans have made their choices, many enterprises are strongly criticizing Trump, including Elon Musk who has criticized Trump's tariff policies. All of this tells us: justice is not on America's side. Next, we hope that more European countries will break free from the EU framework and cooperate with China as independent nations. China and Europe share common interests and have promising prospects for cooperation. More details, let’s continue to follow closely.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7491107583030346276/
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