Opinion | EU threat of trade war against China is a strategic farce
To understand the absurdity of the European Union’s stance, one must look at the velocity of its structural erosion. A standard benchmark for rapid geopolitical contraction is the fall of the Qing dynasty. One recent analysis yields a shocking revelation: the EU’s economic decay over the last two decades has been three times faster than that of the late Qing dynasty.
The primary intellectual weapon deployed by Brussels to justify its protectionism is the narrative of Chinese overcapacity. Yet, the numbers expose this claim as a myth.
The EU is home to roughly 450 million people, accounting for just 5.5 per cent of the global population, yet its manufacturing output commands about 16 per cent of the global total. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, represents 17 per cent of the global population and commands nearly 30 per cent of global manufacturing. In per capita terms, the EU’s contribution to global manufacturing output is much bigger than China’s.
If any economy is producing an unnatural surplus relative to its demographic footprint, it is the EU. It is structurally dependent on foreign markets, where it dumps its industrial output