China, EU Eye Closer Cooperation to Counter Trump Tariffs
By Reuters | 12 Jun, 2025

The EU has provided a growing market for China's exports as shipments to US suffer sharp declines while China has offered to speed up export licenses for rare-earth magnets.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks at the ASEAN - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - China Economic Forum official dinner on the sidelines of the 46th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Vincent Thian/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

China is ready to strengthen cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB), including on reforming the international monetary system, Premier Li Qiang told ECB President Christine Lagarde at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.

Lagarde is on a rare visit to Beijing this week as both China and the European Union are embroiled in trade tensions with the United States, following President Donald Trump's imposition of sweeping tariffs on most nations.

"Against a backdrop of growing resistance to globalisation, only cooperation can bring mutual benefits," China's state broadcaster CCTV reported Li as saying.

China and the EU should promote open cooperation and maintain multilateral coordination, Li said, adding that Beijing was willing to enhance market connectivity and industrial synergy with the bloc. 

Lagarde also met China's central bank governor Pan Gongsheng on Wednesday. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation, and agreed to establish an annual meeting mechanism between the governors of the two central banks, according to a statement from the People's Bank of China.

Following his return to the White House in January, Trump's decision to impose tariffs has shifted the contours of global trade and poses challenges for the global economy.

Chinese exports to the 27-nation EU rose 12.0% year-on-year in May, while sales to the United States dropped by 34.5%. China's exports to Germany and France, the bloc's largest economies, grew by more than 20%, while China's imports from the EU were flat.

Lagarde's visit came as China and the EU seek to ease friction in their trade ties, with Beijing delaying a verdict earlier this week on a high-profile investigation into imported pork from the EU.

The two sides have also been closing in on a deal to resolve disputes over EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Beijing has already extended its anti-dumping investigation into EU brandy and offered to speed up rare earth magnet export licences for European firms.

(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Shi Bu, Ellen Zhang, Xiuhao Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Gareth Jones)