EU and China's officials stress on cooperation in the face of tariffs

Top officials from China and the European Union met in New York this week to discuss ways to work together as both face mounting pressure from American trade policies under President Donald Trump.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang sat down with EU leader Ursula von der Leyen during the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. The talks came as the world’s second and third largest economies try to smooth over their own trade disputes while dealing with new tariffs from Washington.

Von der Leyen posted about the meeting on her social media account, saying she talked with China’s second-highest leader about trade issues. She said she was glad to see China ready to work with Europe “in a spirit of mutual understanding.”

I had a good and frank exchange with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

The main focus of our meeting was to follow up on the productive EU–China Summit in July.

We both agreed on the importance of moving from words to action as soon as possible.

The best way forward is to build on… pic.twitter.com/eW4eQo0xPD

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 24, 2025

The EU chief mentioned that Europe has well-known worries about export controls, getting access to markets, and having too much production capacity. These have been significant issues between the two sides for months.

China and the EU have been close to starting a trade war for two years now. Most experts say this started when European officials decided in 2023 to look into whether China was giving unfair favors to its electric car companies. This led to China checking EU brandy, dairy products, pork, and other goods in return.

Trade relations between China and Brussels are improving

Now that Trump’s trade moves are hurting EU and Chinese exports, Brussels and Beijing have good reasons to improve their relations.

According to a statement from China’s foreign ministry on Thursday, Li said he hoped China and the EU could remember why they started working together. He also said he wanted the EU to keep its promise to maintain open trade and investment markets.

The Chinese statement added that “as two important poles in the world, China and the EU should demonstrate responsibility and maintain strategic independence.”

Chinese trade workers have found it hard to deal with Washington and Brussels simultaneously. Foreign business groups have complained about long waits, while government workers work long hours on complex issues like permits to export rare earth materials.

The European Commission, which makes trade rules for all 27 EU countries, has also had trouble getting everyone to agree. Last October, when it came to tariffs on Chinese electric cars, 10 countries supported them, 12 stayed neutral, and five said no. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, was one of those that opposed the tariffs.

China has also become more important to Europe’s thinking about the war in Ukraine, say diplomats. Many see Chinese President Xi Jinping’s influence over Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s role as Russia’s economic support as a better way to reach peace than Trump’s hard-to-predict foreign policy.

Von der Leyen said she asked China to use its power to stop the killing and push Russia to talk about peace. The Chinese foreign ministry’s statement did not mention the Ukraine conflict.

“Time for diplomacy is now. It would send a strong signal to the world,” Von der Leyen said.

China links purchases of American soybeans to tariff removal

A Chinese commerce ministry spokesman said Thursday that America should get rid of what China calls unreasonable tariffs and create better conditions for more trade between the two countries.

China buys more soybeans than any other country, but according to a recent Cryptopolitan report, China has not ordered any soybeans from the US recently. Instead, it has been buying from South America.

American farmers could lose billions of dollars in soybean sales because of ongoing trade problems that have stopped exports to China.

Senior Chinese trade official Li Chenggang met with business and political leaders from the American Midwest on Monday. This area grows most of America’s soybeans. The meeting suggested that China buy some American soybeans before bigger trade talks happen.

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