According to a person familiar with how the talks went, the meeting lasted several hours and wasn’t easy.
Ling posed a direct question to his DG TRADE counterpart, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, asking if the EU wanted to start a trade war. Juul Jørgensen, who recently took over as head of the trade department, assured Ling this wasn’t Europe’s intention, the person said. The Commission declined to comment.
Thursday’s meeting of the European Council offers a first opportunity for leaders to take stock after Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a strategy session at the end of May. While no decisions are expected, the discussion over dinner in Brussels will be a crucial test of leaders’ appetite for tougher action.
One option is the wider use of import quotas — known as safeguards — for industries hit hardest by Chinese competition, like chemicals and machine tools. Another is a new “diversification instrument” that would require companies in sensitive industries to source inputs from at least three international suppliers.
A third and more aggressive option would be an overcapacity instrument that would effectively impose sweeping tariffs on China. The EU has resisted this so far, as these would be hard to square with World Trade Organization rules.
“The degree of cohesiveness is steadily growing,” said Gunnar Wiegand, the former managing director for Asia-Pacific at the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic corps.
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