Relations in the “China — US — EU” Triangle in Light of the “Tariff War”

The relevance of the article is due to the developments that began less than a year ago, but have already led to uncertainty in global trade. The US announcement of new tariff rates for its trading partners from April 2, 2025, has significantly exacerbated relations in the US-China-EU triangle, causing serious shifts in the ties of these states with third parties. The article examines relations in the US-China, China-EU and EU-US directions in the light of the "tariff war" provoked by Washington, which gives rise to new risks for all participants in the "trialogue". The author believes that if China had to take on more economic costs of the tariff challenge (it has already adapted to the political ones), then the EU unexpectedly suffered both economically and politically. In this regard, the article answers the question about the likelihood of interaction between the EU and China under the anti-tariff banners. The article presents the factors that favor the ChineseEuropean rapprochement, and also characterizes political and economic limits of the latter, examines the US-European tariff "compromises" and the evolution of tariff contradictions on the Chinese-European vector; analyzes the results of the China-EU summit and substantiates the conclusion about the extreme difficulty for China and the EU of achieving a common "strategy for counteracting neoprotectionism". The author characterizes the features of three rounds of US-Chinese tariff negotiations and "Joint Statement". It is noted that in resolving the tariff dispute, China, unlike the EU, did not have to make such significant sacrifices, and that Beijing, for a number of reasons, emerged from the tariff debate even more confident.

USA, China, EU, tariff rates, EU-China summit, trade and tariff negotiations