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.
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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.
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.
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