An increasingly desperate China on Friday pleaded with European Union (E.U.) members to join with Beijing in resisting “unilateral bullying” posed by swingeing tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the call as he met Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
State news agency Xinhua said Xi had stressed the need for cooperation between the bloc and China in weathering Beijing’s mounting trade war with Washington.
It came 24-hours after Australia rejected the same plea from Beijing, as Breitbart London reported.
Australia Rejects China’s Plea to ‘Join Hands’ Against Trump Tariffs https://t.co/akpZY7sbbd
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 10, 2025
“China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities… and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” Xi said, AFP reports.
This, he stressed, would not only “safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also… safeguard international fairness and justice.”
The AFP report notes Sanchez, in turn, told a press conference following his meeting with Xi that tensions over trade should not impede cooperation between the European Union and China.
Spain buys about 45 billion euros ($49.1 billion) of goods every year from China, its fourth-largest trading partner, but sells around 7.4 billion euros’ worth.
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“Both Spain and Europe have a significant trade deficit with China that we must work to rectify,” he admitted.
But, he 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”.
