Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations

Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations

The article argues that EU-China economic relations have entered a new phase shaped by security concerns and industrial policy. After years of deep market integration, Europe now faces simultaneous dependence on Chinese supply chains and exposure to Beijing’s state-led support for strategic sectors...

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Main Author: Ma, Junjie
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Language:Français
Published: 2026
Online Access:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-EUFOR_401_0085EUFORL'Europe en Formation https://shs.cairn.info/journal-l-europe-en-formation-2025-2-page-85?lang=en https://doi.org/10.3917/eufor.401.0085 Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations Ma, Junjie2026 fre L'Europe en Formation | 401 | 2 | 2026-04-30 | p. 85-103 | 0014-2808 EUFOR_40179 The article argues that EU-China economic relations have entered a new phase shaped by security concerns and industrial policy. After years of deep market integration, Europe now faces simultaneous dependence on Chinese supply chains and exposure to Beijing’s state-led support for strategic sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, solar, and critical raw materials. The EU’s “de-risking” agenda, together with instruments like anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations, foreign-subsidy screening, and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, reflects a tri-dimensional approach: protecting the single market, reducing vulnerabilities in key technologies, and preserving room for selective cooperation on climate and global governance. The text links this shift to wider geopolitical shocks – notably Russia’s war against Ukraine and US-China rivalry – which tighten fiscal space, disrupt trade, and raise the political cost of dependence. Overall, it portrays a move from engagement to guarded competition, without a full decoupling. It concludes that policy coherence and unity will determine Europe’s leverage. L’article soutient que les relations économiques entre l’UE et la Chine sont entrées dans une nouvelle phase marquée par les préoccupations sécuritaires et la politique industrielle. Après des années d’intégration profonde des marchés, l’Europe est désormais confrontée à une dépendance simultanée vis-à-vis des chaînes d’approvisionnement chinoises et à l’exposition au soutien étatique de Pékin à des secteurs stratégiques, tels que les véhicules électriques, les batteries, l’énergie solaire et les matières premières critiques. Le programme de « réduction des risques » de l’UE, associé à des instruments, tels que les enquêtes anti-subventions et anti-dumping, le contrôle des subventions étrangères et le mécanisme d’ajustement carbone aux frontières, reflète une approche tridimensionnelle : protéger le marché unique, réduire les vulnérabilités dans les technologies clés et préserver une marge de manœuvre pour une coopération sélective en matière de climat et de gouvernance mondiale. Le texte relie cette évolution à des chocs géopolitiques plus larges – notamment la guerre de la Russie contre l’Ukraine et la rivalité entre les États-Unis et la Chine – qui réduisent la marge de manœuvre budgétaire, perturbent les échanges commerciaux et augmentent le coût politique de la dépendance. Dans l’ensemble, il décrit une transition de l’engagement vers une concurrence prudente, sans découplage complet. Il conclut que la cohérence et l’unité des politiques détermineront le poids de l’Europe. Cairn restricted access
language Français
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/Cairn/
description The article argues that EU-China economic relations have entered a new phase shaped by security concerns and industrial policy. After years of deep market integration, Europe now faces simultaneous dependence on Chinese supply chains and exposure to Beijing’s state-led support for strategic sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, solar, and critical raw materials. The EU’s “de-risking” agenda, together with instruments like anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations, foreign-subsidy screening, and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, reflects a tri-dimensional approach: protecting the single market, reducing vulnerabilities in key technologies, and preserving room for selective cooperation on climate and global governance. The text links this shift to wider geopolitical shocks – notably Russia’s war against Ukraine and US-China rivalry – which tighten fiscal space, disrupt trade, and raise the political cost of dependence. Overall, it portrays a move from engagement to guarded competition, without a full decoupling. It concludes that policy coherence and unity will determine Europe’s leverage.
author Ma, Junjie
spellingShingle Ma, Junjie
Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations
author_facet Ma, Junjie
author_sort Ma, Junjie
title Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations
title_short Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations
title_full Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations
title_fullStr Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations
title_full_unstemmed Trade, Power, and Strategic Adjustment: The Shifting Landscape of China-EU Economic Relations
title_sort trade, power, and strategic adjustment: the shifting landscape of china-eu economic relations
publishDate 2026
container_title
container_issue
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/journal-l-europe-en-formation-2025-2-page-85?lang=en
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/eufor.401.0085
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