E.U. Officials on China Relations
October 23rd, 2006China must practice “reciprocal openness” to maintain good relations with the European Union, according to this commentary by the EU’s trade and external affairs commissioners.
The commentary, published in the International Herald Tribune, is prelude to a “comprehensive reframing of Europe’s approach to its political and commercial partnership with China” that will be announced this week.”
The commissioners warn that if China fails to practice “reciprocal openness . . . . we could see in Europe the growing defensiveness and protectionism that is becoming evident in some quarters in the United States.”
I’m all for reciprocal openness, and trade does need to be a win-win to avert protectionism. However, our European friends don’t need to invoke US protectionism as the bogeyman here.
The Schumer-Graham tariff bill has gone nowhere; meanwhile, the EU has imposed 16.5% duties on Chinese leather footwear. Also, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, one of the authors of this piece, has made noise about starting WTO proceedings over Chinese IP infringement.
Thus, rather than raising the specter that the EU might be drawn into US-like protectionist sentiments, our EU friends should simply threaten that without greater reciprocal openness the EU will act more like the EU has already been acting towards China.
Blogged with Flock