EU, seeking to woo Trump, offers to team up with US on China

BRUSSELS — Europe’s top trade official, seeking to win over U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Wednesday that Brussels was ready to team up with Washington to strengthen economic security in the face of the competitive threat posed by China.

The pitch, by Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, added shape to a promise he made last week in a POLITICO interview to propose “a package of cooperation” to Washington. It follows a rocky first 10 days in office in which Trump has shocked European leaders by staking a territorial claim to Greenland — a protectorate of EU member Denmark.

“We should also be ready to explore deeper EU-U.S. cooperation on economic security —an area where both the EU and the U.S want to progress, including on how to deal with the joint challenges coming from China’s non-market policies and practices,” Šefčovič told the European Parliament’s international trade committee.

On top of his territorial claim against Denmark, a NATO ally, Trump has threatened across-the-board tariffs of up to 20 percent that, if implemented, would deal a massive blow to the $1.3 trillion transatlantic trading relationship.

To placate him, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed buying more U.S. liquefied natural gas soon after Trump’s election victory in November.

“On the commercial area is of course the LNG purchases, where there is a very clear opportunity to increase imports while phasing out Russian gas,” the Slovak commissioner said, adding that von der Leyen and Trump had discussed this during their first introductory call.

During Trump’s first term, the U.S., EU and Japan joined forces to clamp down on what they considered Beijing’s anti-competitive or “non-market” practices — such as lavishing subsidies on companies to grab global market share.

The comments come at a time of uncertainty in the relationship between Brussels and Beijing — the Commission imposed duties on imports of Chinese electric vehicles last year after an investigation found evidence of massive state subsidies. Talks continue with a view to de-escalating the trade row ahead of an EU-China summit penciled in for May.

“China is our third-biggest and most challenging trade partner. We need to rebalance this relationship between transparency, predictability and reciprocity. This means being more assertive in challenging China’s structural imbalances … and non-market practices driving overcapacity,” the EU trade chief said.

“There is also room to expand our trade and investment ties with China,” Šefčovič added, noting that Europe wanted “to pursue a more balanced relationship in the spirit of openness.”