An employee is preparing for the arrival of the Chinese Vice President Ding Xuexiang and the EU Executive Vice President for a clean, fair and competitive transition, Teresa Ribera during China-EU-Umwelt and Climate Dialogue (HECD) in the Diaoyutai State Gued House on July 14, 2025.
Wang Zhao | AFP | Getty pictures
China and the European Union will hold a meeting at the highest level in Beijing on Thursday, while the USA will make its already tense relationship more complicated.
Consistencies against commercial and economic policy, technological questions as well as defense and security were common between China and the EU – and the tensions have recently heated themselves.
For example, the EU imposed restrictions that took part in public tenders for medical devices in the block, and prompted China to react with countermeasures.
For the most part, the burden between the two trading partners is associated with concerns about the effects of domestic economies and companies through imports.
The high-stakes summit, which is 25th between the partners and 50 years of bilateral relationships, therefore took place under less ideal circumstances.
The meeting was initially planned in Brussels and was then cut from two days to one, what was widely understood as another sign for fragile EU China ties.
“The relationships between Brussels and Beijing are particularly tense,” Jörn Fleck, Senior Director at the Europa Center of the Atlantic Council, told CNBC.
“The EU and China have more to argue than they agree, even if no side can afford to worsen the relationship much further in view of the global views and its respective economic positions,” said Fleck.
The United States as a complicated factor
And then there is the tariff policy of US President Donald Trump, with whom you can deal with.
“The differences between EU China will severely restrict the potential cooperation despite the mutual interest, some of the politics of President Trump-Unter the management of US trade measures and unilateralism,” told potential cooperation, “Emre Peker, director of Europe at the Eurasia Group, told CNBC.
The promotions of the United States could even trigger a deterioration in the EU China relationships, said Peker. Brussels, for example, could sharpen his position in China if the United States put pressure on the block as part of the trade talks, he continued.
“The extent of Brussels to Washington to supply chains, export controls and other problems will signal the frustration of the EU with China – and influence its relationship,” said Peker.
According to the European Council, the EU and China compensate for almost 30% of global trade. When taking goods and services into account, the trade with EU China was assessed in 2024 with over 845 billion euros ($ 989 billion).
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who speaks to the media at the end of a bilateral meeting in Berlaymont, the headquarters of the EU Commission, on July 13, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.
Thierry Monasse | Getty Images News | Getty pictures
Henrietta Levin, Senior Fellow am Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, told CNBC that China could try to influence the EU with regard to his conversations with the USA
“Chinese heads of state and government can urge their European colleagues at the current trade negotiations of the EU with the United States and demand them to reject all measures that would disadvantage China,” said Levin.
The EU and the United States have not yet agreed on a trade frame, although the discussions continue to take a tariff of 30% from most of its exports from August 1st.
China and the United States in June said in June that they had agreed to cover the technical regulations and provisions of rare earthly, which are often used in the areas of automotive, defense and energyectors.
In addition, Levin found that Trump's more controversial approach to the EU could complicate the block of blocking China.
“It will be difficult for the EU to disturb China's economic constraint and at the same time lead the economic constraint in the American allies,” she said.
High operations, low expectations
The analyst expectations for the summit seem to be relatively low.
“The fact that the summit will be in the future should be the greatest provision,” said the Atlantic council's stain.
“The best possible result is that the negotiators of the EU and China will agree to continue talking about the various topics, including tariffs, market access, Chinese subsidies and overcapacity,” said Fleck, pointing out some of the many issues between the partners.
A positive sign, said Fleck, was confirmation that Chinese President Xi Jinping, the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, will meet.
There can also be other, smaller references to changing the EU China relationships, Lukas Fiala, project coordinator of the China Foresight Program at LSE Ideas, said CNBC.
“The summit can hardly reset the years of economic and geopolitical tensions between the two sides,” said Fiala and said that the deterioration of EU China relationships had “structural and long-term” reasons.
The EU member states also have different views of China, which makes it difficult for the EU to express a united position, he added.
“I will look for minor changes and languages in connection with export controls for EVs and rare earths during and after the summit, but they don't expect a great shift in the status quo,” said Fiala.
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