The U.S. Department of Commerce recently revoked the licenses of some local chip manufacturers to export some chips to China's Huawei. China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) firmly opposes this and says it will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies. A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said that the US has broadened the concept of national security and politicized economic and trade issues, and its actions have seriously violated its commitments to "not seek decoupling from China" and "not hinder China's development".
In addition to chips, the United States is trying to restrict Chinese companies from entering the American market in the field of smart cars. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo said at a congressional hearing a few days ago that extreme action may be taken to ban the import of Chinese-made connected cars. The U.S. measures restricting Chinese companies not only affect Chinese companies, but also U.S. companies. Intel issued a statement saying that the new ban will result in the company's second-quarter revenue, which will be lower than the previous forecast range, the median range of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion.
The U.S. has broadened the concept of national security and imposed restrictions on Chinese companies, which has exacerbated Sino-US trade tensions, while the world's geopolitical situation continues to be volatile, and the Ukraine crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have also brought new risks to the global economic outlook. Against this backdrop, China-EU relations have recently shown signs of warming. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently visited Europe for a six-day visit to France, Serbia and Hungary, and promoting the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations is one of the important goals of the visit. At the tripartite meeting between the leaders of China, France and the EU, Xi Jinping pointed out that China and the EU should adhere to the position of partners, adhere to dialogue and cooperation, and deepen strategic communication. He also stressed that the essence of China-EU cooperation is complementarity and mutual benefit, and the two sides should properly handle economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation. French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen both stressed the importance of communication and cooperation between the two sides. In terms of economic and trade cooperation, Macron said that the European side does not agree with "decoupling" and welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and cooperate in Europe, and von der Leyen also expressed her hope to strengthen China-EU cooperation.
In the actual economic and trade field, in order to strengthen the economic and trade exchanges between China and France and expand the Chinese market, China has decided to extend the visa-free policy for citizens of 12 countries including France to visit China for a short period of time until the end of 2025, so as to promote personnel exchanges between the two countries, and will further open up the market and create more opportunities for European companies. Despite the recent intensification of economic and trade frictions between China and the EU, China and the EU are still one of each other's most important trading partners and have close economic and trade ties. According to the latest economic and trade data, the EU is still China's second largest trading partner, with the total value of trade between China and the EU reaching 1.75 trillion yuan in the first four months of 2024, down 1.8%.
In terms of bilateral trade between China and France, the economic and trade volume between China and France will reach 78.9 billion US dollars in 2023, France is China's third largest trading partner in the European Union, and China is France's largest trading partner in Asia. Many French companies say they attach great importance to market opportunities in China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his trip to France, and the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries was further deepened. The two sides issued four joint statements on the situation in the Middle East, artificial intelligence and other fields, and signed nearly 20 bilateral cooperation documents in green development, aviation, agriculture and food, commerce, and people-to-people and cultural fields. In the field of agricultural products, Sino-French agricultural cooperation has been further deepened. France is China's largest source of agricultural imports in the EU. In 2023, China imported 46.95 billion yuan of agricultural products from France, an increase of 50.5% over 2019.
Some people in the industry said that the agricultural products of China and France are complementary and can achieve mutual benefit and win-win results on this basis. Some industry insiders also said that from the survey results, French companies have confidence in the Chinese market.
Despite the close economic and trade relations between China and the EU, they are also facing increasing trade frictions. Some scholars believe that the EU's emphasis on the so-called "de-risking" of China in recent years, coupled with the arrival of the European Parliament elections in June, needs to pay attention to the potential impact, and at the same time, it is also necessary to be vigilant against the EU's possible strategic shift in the future. For Chinese enterprises, forming technical cooperation with more EU enterprises and expanding the market of Central and Eastern European countries will also be the development direction of enterprises worth paying attention to.
Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Hungary from May 8 to 10, and the leaders of the two countries announced after the talks that China-Hungary relations will be upgraded to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era. China and Hungary also signed 18 bilateral cooperation documents in various fields such as the Belt and Road Initiative, economic and trade investment, agriculture, animal and plant quarantine, supply chain cooperation, and cultural exchanges.
A relevant person in charge of the Hungarian side of a Chinese chemical company that has entered the Hungarian market for more than 10 years said that more and more Chinese enterprises are investing in Hungary, and at the same time, it has also driven Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises to integrate into the relevant industrial chain and supply chain, which has promoted the local economic development of Hungary to a certain extent.
Chinese businessmen in Hungary said that there is room for the two countries to continue to deepen cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, trade and investment, finance, communications, and chemicals.
Source: China Deepin Finance
Editor: Xu Zhiwei