Chinese and EU leaders to meet as U.S. adds complexity

A staff member prepares for the arrival of Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and EU Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera during China-EU Sixth High Level Environment and Climate Dialogue (HECD) at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on July 14, 2025.

China and the European Union will hold a top-level meeting in Beijing on Thursday, while the U.S. is making their already tense relationship more complicated.

Clashes over trade and economic policy, technological issues and defense and security have been commonplace between China and the EU — and tensions have recently been heating up.

For example, the EU imposed restrictions on Chinese companies taking part in public tenders for medical devices in the bloc, prompting China to respond with countermeasures.

In large part, the strain between the two trading partners is linked to concerns about how domestic economies and companies could be impacted by imports.

The high-stakes summit, which is the 25th between the partners and marks 50 years of bilateral relations, was therefore already taking place under less than ideal circumstances.

Initially scheduled to take place in Brussels, the meeting was then cut from two days to one — which was widely understood as another sign of fragile EU-China ties.

\"Relations between Brussels and Beijing are particularly tense,\" Jörn Fleck, senior director at the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council, told CNBC.

\"The EU and China have more to argue about than they agree on, even if neither side can afford to let the relationship deteriorate much further given the global outlook and their respective economic positions,\" Fleck said.