The EU’s trade chief has said the bloc must do more to stand up for its businesses in the face of an aggressive China and a protectionist US, warning that it needs “serious thinking” about how to project its foreign and security goals.
Cecilia Malmstrom said five years as Brussels’ trade negotiator had convinced her that the EU was still ill-equipped to be a strong global power and needed to be tougher, with a more centralised foreign policy and stronger rules to ensure European companies could compete on fair terms with overseas rivals.
“The European Union, for all its successes, is not really equipped to deal with a changing world, with a world order where we have this aggressive China, [where] we have the United States, which is not the traditional strong transatlantic partner,” Ms Malmstrom said.