Politicians in European and Asian countries were far more worried about the U.S. policy toward China and more generally about President Joe Biden’s new international economic policies, as outlined recently by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, reported The Washington Post on Friday.
“Europe needs an industrial policy, but it cannot afford to mimic the Biden administration’s protectionism,” former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted as telling the author of the article. “For Europe, trade is vital; its prosperity is dependent on trade with the rest of the world, including China, in a way that America’s is not.”
While acknowledging that the Biden administration has made moves to expand trade ties, he expressed concern that all the moves are bilateral or regional efforts that might undercut global trade. They come, he said, “at the expense of any real discussion of what a modern multilateralist order would look like.”
“De-risking” is the hottest buzzword in diplomacy these days. Even the Biden administration now says it also wants to de-risk rather than decouple. But many European officials the author spoke with said they worry that this is just a rhetorical change and that U.S. policies — and Chinese responses — will keep moving the ratchet up, according to the report.
Kishore Mahbubani, the former Singaporean diplomat and author of “The Asian 21st Century,” pointed out that discussions in the West often forget that the world’s growth is mostly coming from Asia. The largest trade relationship in the world is between China and ASEAN — almost 1 trillion U.S. dollars. And ASEAN countries cannot grow without open and vibrant trade, especially with China, said the report.
“It is worth remembering China’s formidable strengths and the degree to which it is intertwined into the global economy,” it noted. “Ten years ago, China exported a relatively small number of cars. Today, it is the world’s leading exporter of automobiles, handily ousting Japan from that position. It is especially strong in electric vehicles. Two of every three EVs made in the world are made in China.”
