Spanish PM China visit: Spain & EU's Stance on China amid global trade tensions

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe spoke with Arancha González Laya, former Foreign Minister of Spain who is now Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po.

Transcript

00:00Arantxa Gonzalez-Laya is the former foreign minister of Spain and is

00:05currently Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po and

00:10joins us now. Thank you so much for your time. The US Treasury Secretary Scott

00:14Besant is warning that those who get closer to China will, and I'm quoting him,

00:18cut their own throats. Is Spain in dangerous territory with this show of

00:24support for China? No, I think what Spain is doing is no different from what the

00:31European Union is doing, which is making sure that they cultivate trade and

00:37investment relations with partners around the world. China is an important

00:42trade and investment partner of the European Union, and it's only normal that

00:48this relation is cultivated between both. And I think it's very important,

00:55especially now when there are countries that are renouncing to have robust trade

01:01and investment policies and connections with other parts of the world, that the

01:05European Union, that Spain show a different way of doing and that we stand by that.

01:10President just spoke of this 90-day tariff pause as an opportunity for negotiation.

01:18What do you think Spain in particular should seek to do in this period?

01:23Well, on international trade, Spain doesn't negotiate. It's the European Commission

01:28that negotiates for the 27 member states. But if I had to sum up what the European Union wants,

01:35what Spain wants, what Spain wants, therefore, is the removal of the unfair tariffs that have been imposed

01:42by the U.S. on Europe. Why? Because they run counter to the interests of American companies in Europe

01:51and European companies in America. It runs counter to the 4.4 billion U.S. dollar daily trade between the two blocks.

02:00So let's negotiate the removal of those tariffs. And if there are opportunities to bring up as much as trade

02:08to zero obstacles, the better it would be.

02:12China says this is a moment for countries who believe in fair trade and globalization to stand with them

02:19against what they are calling the United States bullying. Do you agree with them?

02:24I think it's very important today to stand by the rules of international trade, to stand by the World Trade Organization,

02:36to stand by international trade governed by rules, rules that are applicable to everyone, rules that protect against unilateralism

02:48and against protectionism and against protectionism. And the more countries around the world can gather around those principles,

02:55in my view, the safer we will be from a trade point of view and the more prosperous we would be.

03:01So I think it's very important that China stands by those rules and that Europe stands by those rules too.

03:09Maybe together with many other countries in the world, we protect this house, this common house, the World Trade Organization

03:16that we have together built along the last 80 years.

03:20Well, thank you so much for your time, Arantxa Gonzalez-Laya, a former foreign minister of Spain.

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