EU Asks China To Open Its Economy To Foreign Investment

With China and the US becoming embroiled in trade tariff retaliations, the European Union is trying its best to calm down Beijing.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has called on China to avoid a trade war and instead open up to other nations. US President Donald Trump has constantly warned China that he will be imposing tariffs on variety of exports in order to get them to pay up for the abuses that China has carried out over the years.

The total tariffs that will be paid by Chinese traders is expected to be on nearly $500 billion worth of goods.

China has been very protective over the years regarding its global trading activities but is now looking to change that perception. This is mainly by accepting large investments from foreign companies. For example, recently Germany’s BASF started a $10 billion petrochemicals project in the country. President Juncker pointed to this as an example of China being able to open up to foreign investment when necessary.

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Chinese Premier Li Jienkang has been doing his best to invite foreign countries to invest into the country, with the recent event in Beijing that hosted both Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk as a good example. Tusk further hoped to cool down heads to avoid the brewing trade war by urging countries to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In a statement, Tusk said

It is the common duty of Europe and China, but also America and Russia, not to destroy this order but to improve it, not to start trade wars, which turned into hot conflicts so often in our history, but to bravely and responsibly reform the rules based international order. There is still time to prevent conflict and chaos

China And EU Looking To Join Hands

Chinese President Xi Jinping also met with Tusk and Junckers. The President said he hoped that Europe would be able to join hands with China to ensure a rules-based free trade system is implemented and that multilateralism would be defended.

China and Europe have both pointed to the WTO as a way to resolve the current trade differences that plague US-China trade relations. However, Trump has discounted the option, saying that the need to change China’s policies are too urgent to be handled by the trade organization.

The meeting between Chinese and European leaders has resulted in fruitful communication that reassures the world that both parties are committed to a multilateral trading system. This is a big change since the meetings in 2016 and 2017 had a lack of consensus and no positive results.

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