The United States and the West have officially launched the first shot of the trade war against China, and although the EU is hesitant to increase tariffs on China, its arms cannot reach its thighs, and I am afraid that it will not be able to withstand the pressure and still wield the "sanctions stick" in its hands. Just when China is preparing to start a war with the United States and the West, Japan suddenly strikes at China from another angle, so we must play a whole set of combination punches and respond strongly!
After struggling for a long time, the EU still temporarily imposed a 38.1% tariff on China's electric vehicles exported, and if it is superimposed on the basis of the previous 10%, it will be close to the report analysis given by "scholars", that is, "if more than 50% tariffs are not imposed on China's electric vehicles, tariff barriers will be useless". Originally, many people still had hopes for the EU, believing that it was only a "symbolic" tariff, but I didn't expect this knife to be cut hard enough, but this time there are still many countries within the EU that put forward strong opposition, such as Germany, Sweden, Hungary, etc., but after all, under the overwhelming advantage of 22 countries such as France and Spain, they had to temporarily let the tariff regulations take effect. Whether the temporary tariffs will be converted into permanent tariffs depends on whether the remaining countries can change the EU's "will".
Just when China and Europe have not yet decided the winner of the electric vehicle game, Japan suddenly announced sanctions against companies in China, India, the United Arab Emirates and other countries that circumvent anti-Russian sanctions. Japan's move can be said to be reasonable and unexpected. Originally, as a member of the G7 group, it was not unusual to follow the United States and the West, but jumping so fast that people had to look at it differently. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi also specifically pointed out that "this move is only for individual companies involved in the evasion of sanctions, not specific countries". The implication is that Japan does not seem to be too willing to offend third countries such as China and India.
After Japan participated in the G7 summit, it hurriedly opened a knife against China and India, which is enough to see that the pressure given by the United States is enormous. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen threatened that "China's overcapacity is unacceptable to the world", but in American language, "the world" may not include "southern countries" such as Africa and the Middle East. The reason why the United States cannot accept it is because China's electric vehicles harm the interests of developed countries and lose their "pricing power". This is not only unilateral trade protectionism, but also a kind of strategic thinking caused by a narrow mentality.
It can be seen that at this G7 group meeting, the United States is trying to put pressure on more and more countries, so as to achieve the strategy of the times to contain China in an all-round way. The United States has already sounded the drums of war, at least 23 countries have followed suit with sanctions, and even Japan has come to join in the fun. As soon as the EU tariff policy was implemented, there were calls for countermeasures from the private sector to the industry, and they all came up with suggestions to impose sanctions on dairy products exported from Europe.
In fact, China has long had a layout in Europe, and Reuters said that Chinese car companies have placed part of the assembly work in European countries by dismantling and building factories, and the exported parts will not be subject to high tariffs. This is also a clear card, Europe is attracting manufacturing from China in disguise, perhaps a tacit understanding between the two sides. In particular, the overall "rightward turn" in Europe, with the exception of Italy, can be described as "everyone is at risk", and whether there can be policy continuity is still a thorny issue. In short, Europe today is not only a partner that we have wooed, but also a competitor that we must pay attention to and fight back, and the instability within Europe itself has also made China-EU relations and even the world full of infinite possibilities.
Thousands of blows are still strong, and the wind is blowing! No matter how the external situation changes, both China and Chinese enterprises have sufficient capital and resilience to face difficulties and setbacks, which is a necessary process for the objective economy and an important stage for China's rise.