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South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
‘Elephants trampling on global trade': EU sidelined by US-China showdown
Over two rounds of high-stakes talks on European soil, Europe has watched from the sidelines as the US and China tried to reach a truce that might stabilise the global trading system on which the continent is entirely reliant. Outcomes in Geneva and London that momentarily steadied the ship have been welcomed, even as officials in European capitals frantically parsed statements, posts and tweets for clues as to how the reverberations of US-China engagement would reshape Europe's trade ties, both with the superpowers and beyond. In Brussels and other capitals, the exchanges served as a reminder of the extent to which Europe's fortunes have become hostage to the whims of giants in Beijing and Washington. 'We are not a beneficiary of any of this [conflict]; we are victims of two elephants trampling on global trade,' said Joerg Wuttke, a partner at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, who spent decades as Europe's top business lobbyist in China. Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Photo: Simon Song On Wednesday evening, European Union officials went to bed after hearing US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent say it was 'highly likely' that a pause on Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' of 50 per cent on EU goods would be extended beyond the July 9 deadline.
South China Morning Post
19-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China-US trust issues threaten hope of successful diplomatic backchannel: Joerg Wuttke
Finding an effective backchannel between Beijing and Washington is difficult because of the challenges of finding an intermediary trusted by both sides, according to a seasoned China observer and former top business leader in China. Advertisement 'I think there is no backchannel at this stage outside normal diplomatic places … I don't see at this stage the attempt from both sides,' Joerg Wuttke , former president emeritus of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. 'And it would be hard to find a person that is trusted on both sides to explain Donald Trump to Xi Jinping, and to explain Xi Jinping to Donald Trump. It has to be someone who is knowledgeable in both cases, senior enough to have the ear of both presidents. And I don't see this yet,' said Wuttke, who spent more than three decades in China before moving to Washington last year. Joerg Wuttke is the former president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Photo: Simon Song Wuttke, who is now a partner at consulting agency DGA Group in Washington, said the individual who could serve as a backchannel had to be someone under the media radar. He said the last person qualified for the task was Elon Musk , whom he described as 'loud' and more 'on the front page'. The billionaire and close Trump adviser has business ties to China and close relationships with senior Chinese officials, leading to early suggestions he might be a bridge between Beijing and Washington. Musk was among the first businesspeople from the US to visit China after the pandemic and invested heavily in the country during its economic downturn. However, he has also expressed concern about China's industrial capacity surpassing that of the US. Advertisement Trump has repeatedly cited countering China as a main driver for several foreign policy moves since he returned to the White House in January. However, observers also note that the Trump administration's China policy is still taking shape.
