President Trump’s strong tariffs on Chinese goods effectively suspends most Sino-American trade. China now faces an enormous glut of telecommunications and network-connected equipment, such as 5G equipment, fiber optic cables, telecom parts and various smart devices. It’s largest trading partner, the U.S., is not buying.
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This isn’t just a bilateral dustup. China will almost certainly seek to dump its telecom and network-connected equipment on the European Union at fire sale prices. Having lost access to the U.S.’ $23 trillion consumer market, China will see the EU’s $14 trillion consumer market as the only one that can absorb a meaningful share of the glut.
Europe has come to a fork in the road on trade. It’s time to choose a side. The EU should reject China’s bait and build deeper trade alliances with democracies over autocracies.
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