The 27 EU countries have received a notice of countermeasures from China. Since the EU has stubbornly refused to listen to advice, China will not be lenient.

China's Ministry of Finance recently announced that for medical equipment procurement budgets exceeding 45 million yuan, EU companies should be excluded from participation starting immediately.

【If the EU insists on its own way and refuses to listen to advice, don't blame China for being unkind.】

Additionally, for non-EU companies participating in supply, the proportion of medical equipment imported from the EU shall not exceed half of the contract amount.

On the same day, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated in response to a journalist's question that the EU decided on June 20 to restrict Chinese enterprises from participating in public procurement of medical equipment in the EU. China has repeatedly expressed willingness to resolve differences through dialogue and consultation, but the EU still insisted on its own way and took restrictive measures.

"Therefore, China has no choice but to take equivalent restrictive measures."

The spokesperson emphasized that the meaning of "no choice" is simple: you, the EU, initiated the action first, and then China decided to take equivalent countermeasures.

Just two days before the announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that an average tariff of 32.2% would be imposed on imported grape brandy from the EU, mainly brandy.

This move also falls under the category of "China's inevitable counterattack," targeting the anti-subsidy tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese electric vehicles last October, which could reach as high as 35.3%.

【The EU announced in October last year that it would impose anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, with the highest reaching 35.3%.】

In addition, the EU had previously canceled a high-level economic dialogue between China and the EU, and China has recently changed the original two-day schedule of the China-EU summit from July 24 to 25 into one day.

With less than three weeks until the China-EU summit, the relationship between the two sides remains tense, and the main reasons behind this are threefold.

First, the issue of anti-subsidy tariffs on electric vehicles has not been resolved for a long time. Since the EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric vehicles at the end of 2023, China has always hoped to solve the problem through dialogue and proposed a "minimum export price" scheme.

The "setting a minimum export price" was a solution used by China and the EU in 2013 to resolve disputes over photovoltaic exports. After 11 years, the EU now does not accept it. In October last year, after passing an EU vote, the anti-subsidy tax was officially implemented.

At almost the same time, as a countermeasure, China also announced an anti-dumping investigation on brandy exported from the EU. This investigation mainly targets France, as France was the main proponent of imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

【With less than three weeks until the China-EU summit, the relationship between the two sides remains tense.】

Entering 2025, with Trump waving the tariff stick around the world, China and the EU started negotiations on the minimum price commitment for electric vehicles in April. However, so far, there has been no decisive progress.

It is said that the minimum price of 30,000 euros (approximately 253,000 RMB) per vehicle proposed by China did not meet the expectations of the EU and was rejected by them. In addition, there are disputes over the implementation details of price regulation and the joint supervision mechanism.

The EU also proposed requirements for technological cooperation, such as battery recycling and sharing green technology. China is open to this, but emphasizes that it must comply with international trade rules and avoid unilateral restrictive clauses.

Second, there are differences on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Last week, in preparation for the upcoming China-EU summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a visit to Europe.

However, the statement of a senior EU official indicated that Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit was not smooth, especially during the meeting with the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs (equivalent to Foreign Minister), Kallas, when discussing Ukraine, Sino-Russian relations, and Middle East issues, "the atmosphere was quite tense."

Kallas, the former Prime Minister of Estonia, has always taken a strong stance against Russia. He took over from Borrell in December last year to become the head of the EU's foreign affairs department. It is said that during a four-hour meeting, Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave Kallas "several lessons in history."

China's position on related issues has remained unchanged. However, due to the change in the United States, the EU hopes that China will exert more influence on Russia. But honestly, this ultimately depends on the Europeans themselves to solve.

【Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs (equivalent to the Foreign Minister), Kallas.】

Third, the overall situation of China-EU relations in the past six months has not developed rapidly in a positive direction as in the Trump 1.0 period. With increasing tensions between the US and the EU, the EU has increasingly emphasized the competitive aspect of China-EU relations.

This is an unusual thing, but it is a fact. Under the pressure of Trump, the EU did not significantly move closer to China; instead, they seem to hope that by promoting competition between China and the US, they can indirectly prompt China to make policy adjustments more favorable to Europe.

Certainly, the current China-EU relationship is far from "reaching ice point," but it is only "continuously tense." There are significant conflicts of interest among the 27 EU member states, and the fact of Trump's administration cannot be ignored, all of which determine that China's diplomatic work in Europe still has considerable space.

That is why we can see that the intensity of China's current trade restrictions on the EU is not very large, and there is some flexibility: for example, companies that negotiate with China and reach a minimum price commitment can avoid high tariffs, and 34 EU companies benefited from this, with French President Macron also expressing his welcome.

It can be said that as long as the EU is willing to resolve the issue through dialogue and put aside some unnecessary thoughts towards China, everything will be manageable. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi mentioned during his recent visit to Europe: there are no fundamental conflicts of interest between China and the EU.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7524182245083480610/

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