‘No nostalgia’ EU in stern warning to Joe Biden as US President-elect set for trade war

Joe Biden’s trading relationship with EU discussed by Weyand

Speaking to Euronews, Sabine Weyand said the trading relationship between the US and the European Union will not revert to the levels established under the Obama administration as Joe Biden replaces Donald Trump in the White House. Ms Weyand said: “There will be no nostalgia. We are not going to back to the global order of the past years.

“The world today is not the same as 10 or even five years ago.”

However, the President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Adam Posen, also warned Mr Biden’s approach to trade with the Brussels bloc will still have most of the Trump administration’s objectives at heart.

He told Euronews: “The Biden Administration somewhat disappointingly is not just going to reverse all the tariffs.

“They will certainly stop escalating them and they will stop some of the more ridiculous tariffs that were put on allies with national security excuses.

“But there will be some attempt by the Biden administration to extract things in return for reducing the tariffs.”

The warning comes as German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer hinted the US trade deal Joe Biden is expected to secure with the EU could be under threat after the bloc gave “the cold shoulder” to the US President-elect in favour of a deal with China.

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Mr Bütikofer believes the deal struck between the European Union and Xi Jinping’s China was “not very helpful” for transatlantic ties with Joe Biden’s incoming US administration taking a tough line against Beijing.

It comes as a senior Conservative backbencher told Express.co.uk that agreement may leave the bloc isolated from both Washington and London after Europeans leaders gave Mr Biden “the cold shoulder.”

The German Green Party MEP told Euronews: “The China-EU investment deal certainly was not very helpful when you look at it from the angle of trans-Atlantic cooperation.

“On the one hand, the incoming Biden team signalled very clearly that they hope for early consultations and then Europeans showed them the cold shoulder.”

Brussels may have to ‘pick up pieces’ from Biden says insider

The EU agreed on the terms of the investment deal with Beijing following a video call between President Xi Jinping and bloc leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) into the EU has increased exponentially over the last few years, primarily directed to the strategic areas of infrastructure and high technology and the deal seeks to strengthen these ties further.

Beijing has come under fire from the US in recent months, not least for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, but also its aggression in the South China Sea and the introduction of the new security law in Hong Kong.

The President-elect has promised a tough approach to China after his inauguration on January 20, and now the EU could find itself stranded.

This is the view of Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood, who said the deal was signed “prematurely” and could leave the bloc isolated.

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Mr Elwood told Express.co.uk: “I think this was a mistake by the EU – to pursue this without consulting the US and the UK.

“If we are to have a comprehensive and effective strategy towards China then there needs to be cooperation.

“China will be delighted that it has managed to, yet again, drive a wedge between the strategic thinking of the West by signing the EU up to this.

“It will now mean the EU is less critical of any aspect of China’s behaviour and that is not where we want to be – particularly with the new occupants of the White House.

“[Joe] Biden wants to rejuvenate and reconsolidate Western resolve in stepping up to the geopolitical threat that China presents.”

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