The bloc’s incoherence on China and submission to the US has relegated it to a state of irrelevance, undermining its leverage with both powers
Washington engineered this outcome with precision. Trump’s tariff threats had seemed to corner Brussels into a false dilemma: either prioritise commercial ties with China or reinforce transatlantic loyalty. The set-up succeeded.
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The moral selectivity runs deeper: Brussels demands from Beijing what it never required of other countries reluctant to reduce ties with Moscow. For example, India absorbed 38 per cent of Russia’s major arms exports between 2020 and 2024. No European leader has explained why engagement with China must hinge on its Russia stance when no such condition is applied to others.
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