The EU Seems to Have Taken the Trump Admin’s Lead With China
Sounding much like the Trump administration, the Europeans are putting trade restraints on Beijing to force change.
(L/R) European Council President Antonio Costa, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and European Union President Ursula von der Leyen pose for a photo during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the Kananaskis Country Golf Course in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada on June 16, 2025. Suzanne Plunkett/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Europe has taken steps to slow imports of Chinese-made medical devices. Unlike the U.S. Trump administration, the European Union has not resorted to tariffs to achieve this end. Instead, it has simply barred Chinese products from certain sectors of the market. But similar to the U.S. approach, the goal is to pressure Beijing to change its unfair trade practices.
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is "Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live."
