The United States imposed new tariffs on China, the heads of state of the two European countries collectively opposed it, and Scholz also sounded the alarm to the European Union, saying that it cannot "follow in the footsteps of the United States". The above statement was actually made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his visit to Sweden and his meeting with the country's Prime Minister Kristersson, and when asked whether it was possible for the EU to also impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, both of them made it clear that they were opposed.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson
Scholz and Christersson agreed that the EU should not follow the US move of imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, because this is undoubtedly a bad idea to undermine the global trade order and will only harm the EU's own interests in the end.
Scholz put it more bluntly, pointing out that half of the electric cars imported by the West from China are produced by Western manufacturers themselves. The implication is that if the West does this, it will be shooting itself in the foot.
In fact, since the EU launched a "countervailing investigation" against Chinese electric vehicles, Germany has repeatedly publicly expressed its opposition, emphasizing that the EU's move may provoke a "reciprocal response" from China and may affect the normal operation of European companies.
Germany's concerns are justified, because among the many EU countries, Germany has the strongest industrial base and the largest trade with China, especially in the automotive sector, where German car companies have been deeply involved for many years.
Scholz visited China to visit the factories of German companies in China
For Germany, while China's electric vehicles are exported to Europe, German cars are also sold in the Chinese market, which will not affect the interests of German companies, not only that, but this kind of healthy competition will also promote the vitality of Germany's transformation and upgrading.
In the past few years, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has visited China several times, and each time he comes, he will bring a luxurious business delegation to discuss cooperation with China.
Because of this, when the EU intends to take action against China's electric vehicles, the CEOs of many well-known German car companies, including Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, have issued warnings, pointing out that this kind of protectionism-based behavior will only have a destructive impact on the economic development of the European region.
It can be seen from this that both the German political and business circles are well aware of the importance of the Chinese market to themselves, so they will never allow the EU to reject such a big "customer" as China because of some political factors.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Kang Linsong
If Germany's opposition to tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles is understandable based on its own economic interests, then why does Sweden, a small Nordic country with little bilateral trade with China, also strongly oppose this matter?
This is understandable, because Germany and Sweden have in common that they are both industrial powerhouses in Europe and rely on overseas markets. In the context of economic globalization, economic benefits can be maximized through the division of labor between upstream and downstream.
Once a certain link in the industrial chain and supply chain is affected, the industrial advantages of this division of labor and cooperation will be seriously impacted, and at present, in order to suppress China's development, the United States is engaged in trade protectionism and unilaterally set up technical barriers.
These moves themselves are "de-globalization" and disrupt the stability of global supply chains and industrial chains, which also have a great impact on countries such as Germany and Sweden that rely on global division of labor and cooperation for domestic industrial production.
U.S. President Joe Biden
The United States is not unaware of this, but in order to achieve its geopolitical goals, it does not hesitate to harm the interests of its allies, which once again shows the outside world the true situation of "America First".
In fact, through this, the EU should recognize the reality that the United States can ignore the situation of Germany and Sweden, so how can it care about the economic development of other European countries?
At present, the Biden administration's announcement of tariffs on Chinese goods worth about $18 billion is the end of the crossbow, and the previous tariffs imposed on China during the Trump era have already made American companies complain, and inflationary pressure is still difficult to resolve.
As Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson said, a large-scale "trade war" will only lead to the blockade of each other's products, which is not the path Europe should take.
Swedish Prime Minister Christersson
The EU is China's second largest trading partner in the world after ASEAN, and China is also an important export market for the EU. These practical economic benefits clearly show that the EU should not follow the example of the United States in wielding the "big stick of tariffs" against China, because in the end this "big stick" may fall on itself.