Stung by Trump, America’s top trading partners cozy up to China
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. U.S. trading partners, feeling burned by an unpredictable and transactional White House, are reassessing China in a drive to lessen their longstanding reliance on America.
From Canada to Europe and South Korea, America’s postwar allies are scouring the globe for alternative markets. Some are weighing closer ties to China, the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S., even as they worry about Beijing’s economic and military might and the risk of U.S. retaliation.
President Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if the country “makes a deal" with China, highlighting how the world’s middle powers are increasingly under pressure to choose between what many of them view as bad options. The threat came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this month announced a sharp cut in Canada’s levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles and touted a “new strategic partnership" with China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later suggested to ABC News that Trump’s threat related to a broad free-trade deal with China—something Carney says Canada isn’t pursuing.
Carney isn’t alone in taking tentative steps to mend ties with China. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Beijing this week to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping—the first visit by a U.K. prime minister in eight years.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said recently that he wants a “full-scale restoration" of ties with China. Others are more skeptical. The European Union said recently that it is open to price floors as a replacement for tariffs on Chinese EVs, although policymakers in the bloc remain hesitant about any broader rapprochement and haven’t backed down in other areas.
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