(VitalNews.org) – The European Union has looked to seek a strategic challenge despite the EU not being an economic match for the United States or China.
Margrethe Vestager believes that, although it may not be as big as the US or China, the EU has improved its ability to defend itself against unfair trading practices. She said that they would continue to find ways to compete equitably with other countries and economic partners.
Vestager said, “The point is to realize we can never outspend China or the U.S. We can spend strategically.”
The European Union just announced higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, following other countries that have done the same. The concern has come from Chinese EVs that had benefited from “unfair subsidies” and that could undercut European EVs.
The European Union has been cautious in how it positions itself amid the tensions with China, as they are a top trade partner, but they are balancing their geopolitical and economic alliances. As a part of their “strategic investments,” they have a one hundred billion euro fund for ten different “cutting edge technologies” which have been said to include electric batteries, hydrogen, cloud, health, and microelectronics.
Vestager continued, “That, I think, is a strategic way of using taxpayers’ money, crowding in private capital, to get what the market will not otherwise deliver.”
The United States has been investing substantially in clean energy, technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure while China is investing in tech and green industries. The EU is closely following them by implementing clean energy practices themselves. “Let’s not get distracted by what they are doing in the U.S. and China. Let’s stick to our guns and make sure that it actually works,” Vestager said.
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