6. US-Asia-EU Perspectives

This chapter looks into the US-China tariff conflict and the impact on the EU28 and Asia more broadly. The analysis includes the effects of the conflict on the profitability of multinational US companies in China and Chinese companies in the US. Moreover, the transportation challenges of US-China and EU-China trade are also considered. The differences in the respective logistics have favorable implications for EU-Sino economic cooperation, on the one hand, and for security issues, on the other hand. China’s One Belt One Road Initiative will clearly have a long-run impact on both Asia and Europe as will China’s global port investments. There is a triangular economic logic of US protectionism to be taken into account, namely, the triplolar US-China-EU world, which is more difficult to understand and manage than traditional US-Asia policy approaches prior to 1990.