Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen visit China

Emmanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission will stand together facing Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday, April 5. With a challenge: how to exist between on the one hand the showdown between Beijing and the United States, and on the other, the alliance between China and Russia against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine? China is both a rival and an obligated economic partner of the European Union. The Middle Kingdom will soon have 1.5 billion inhabitants, a colossal market for Europe, but an unbalanced market.

Abyssal trade deficit

The 27 export a lot to Beijing, but in the last ten years, China has doubled its exports to Europe. An abyssal trade deficit: one billion euros per day. Xi Jinping distorts the competition. “There are sectors in China that are not open to foreign companies”, summarizes the analyst Alice Ekman. China is now also posing as an unavoidable diplomatic giant. Beijing, for example, has just come to the Middle East to work towards a spectacular reconciliation.