Japan, Europe Can Lead Trade Fight, Leave China To Contend Alone

2025-04-28 03:17:35

(MENAFN- Asia Times) There could not be a bigger contrast between Beijing's reaction to Donald Trump's declaration of trade war and the reactions from China's fellow major trading powers, Japan and the European Union.

China got its retaliation in early, matching Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods with identical ones on American goods. The“decoupling” of the Chinese and US economies that has been talked about for years is now really happening.

However, Japan and the EU have chosen to suspend any retaliation until talks have taken place with Trump and his team. One might even say that Japan and the EU are hiding behind the Chinese retaliation, and reasoning that this removes the urgency for them to hit back, too. China is proving that the American bully can be resisted, reducing the need for others to add to that proof.

Nevertheless, one of the big questions now is of whether the Chinese, Japanese and European stances might soon converge. All three of these great trading powers say that they need to talk more to each other, and some of those conversations have already begun.

Both the European Union and the United Kingdom have plenty of security worries about China, not least the fact that it is supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine. Japan, too, is not going to sacrifice its security interests for trade. But it would be perfectly possible to keep trade and security separate.

European governments feel a deep sense of estrangement from Trump's America. And Japan has every right to feel betrayed by Trump, too, given all the costly efforts it has been making to contribute more to defense and security in the Indo-Pacific, which the Trump administration claims is its top priority.

Before asking whether Japan and the European Union should or will collaborate with China on trade, however, we ought to ask first what interest China might have in collaboration.

In diplomatic terms, the Chinese leadership might feel happy if more countries, especially Western ones, are driven into its arms by American bullying. But China has an even bigger interest in demonstrating its own strength and resilience.

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