German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for a different approach to China. “The era of China’s political sheep’s clothing is over” she told the “Handelsblatt” on Monday. China is supporting “more or less openly” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is “playing foul with enormous, highly subsidized export capacities in a trade policy sense.”
Baerbock will discuss the China strategy at the Merics think tank in Berlin on Monday, a year and a half after the adoption of the federal government’s first China strategy. “The answer to an increasingly aggressive China and to ‘America First’ is ‘Europe United'” she said. “We must work self-assured and decisively on this.”
Specifically, she mentioned the themes of investment screening, the protection of critical infrastructure, and de-risking the economy, where “many steps still need to be taken.”
China’s strategy of using subsidized and technologically advanced products, in part with the lowest prices, to push out competitors from the global market, should also be countered by Europe. “As the EU, we have created economic instruments in recent years to react jointly and effectively to unfair trade practices or economic threats” Baerbock said. With countervailing duties, Europe is protecting its automotive industry and ensuring fair competition. “We do not want a trade war, but Europe cannot become a dumping ground for highly subsidized Chinese products.