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Time for the EU to stop outsourcing its China policy to the US
The EU must move quickly to engage with China based on European interests instead of defaulting to American positions
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Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa is a geopolitics analyst with a specialisation in EU-Asia relations.
In 2025, Europe stands adrift in geopolitical limbo. As Washington sets the tempo and Beijing expands its reach, the European Union clings to ambiguity. Brussels’ inability to formulate a coherent China policy has left it vulnerable precisely when autonomy matters most.
Donald Trump’s re-election as US president has shattered Europe’s diplomatic complacency, revealing the cost of years spent deferring to American leadership. Confronted with a combative White House,the EU now needs a functional relationship with China as a counterweight – yet finds itself without the framework to build one. Beijing, meanwhile, watches with growing impatience, having expected the EU to meet this moment with determination.
Indeed, three months into Trump’s second term, China still waits for a coordinated EU response to American unilateralism. Instead, it encounters weakness, division and indecision – paralysis rooted not only in Brussels’ approach to Washington, but in its unresolved posture toward Beijing.
This inertia can be traced back to the bloc’s 2019 strategic outlook. Rather than providing clarity, it institutionalised confusion by labelling China a “cooperation partner”, “negotiating partner”, “economic competitor” and “systemic rival”. What leaders presented as balance came off as an indecisiveness formalised into policy.
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