EU-China trade war: Beijing turns the screws as Brussels tests limits of restraint

Last Thursday, the European Union added 14 Chinese companies to its latest round of sanctions, accusing them of providing support for Ukraine" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="175474" data-entity-type="event">Russia’s war against Ukraine – but few of the names were recognisable to anyone outside narrow trading and compliance circles.Officials were taken aback less than 24 hours later, when Beijing – which had been notified of the ragtag group of traders and freight forwarders to be listed by the EU as far back as June – fired back ferociously. Unlike the long notice afforded to their own diplomats, China gave Brussels just a one-hour warning, according to people familiar with the exchange.Europe’s own listings had been carefully calibrated, intentionally omitting major Chinese actors to ensure its own member states would support the package amid fears of retaliation. Beijing, on the other hand, went for the jugular.