After two years of significant advances on China policy, China hands in Brussels and European capitals are working to maintain continuity when a new EU Commission leadership takes over this fall following recent elections. They hope to lock down the China priorities that have been hard fought, to avoid starting again from scratch in 2020. Their efforts will benefit from support for a stronger China agenda across most member states, in Parliament, and from business. This get-tougher tendency is gathering steam despite Trump’s China policy disruptions, not because of them. As a result, we expect continued and expanded action in the next five years, beyond trade and investment rules into procurement, competition policy, and industrial policy.
