China is showing itself as a solid business and trade partner for the United States and other traditional allies alienated by the politics of President Donald Trump, and some of them are ready to reset.
Since early 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping has hosted South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Irish leader Michael Martin.
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This week, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starr is on a three-day visit to Beijing, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will visit China for the first time in late February.
Among these visitors, five are US treaty allies, but all have been hit by Trump administration actions over the past year. “Reciprocal” trade ratesAlso additional duties on major exports like steel, aluminium, autos and auto parts.
Canada, Finland, Germany and the UK this month found themselves in opposition to NATO over Trump’s desire and threats to annex Greenland. Imposition of additional charges He said eight European countries, including the UK and Finland, stood in his way. Trump has since backed down from this threat.
China’s renewed sales pitch
As China tried to present itself as a viable alternative to the postwar US-led international order, its sales pitch renewed. World Economic ForumThe (WEF) annual summit took place earlier this month in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump told world leaders that the US had become “the most popular country anywhere in the world” due to investment and increased tariff revenues, and that Europe would do “very well” to follow America’s lead, while a speech by Chinese Vice President Li Hefeng emphasized China’s continued support for multilateralism and free trade.
“While economic globalization is not perfect and may cause some problems, we cannot completely reject it and retreat into self-imposed isolation,” Lee said.
“The right approach should and can be to find a solution together through dialogue.”
Lee criticized the “unilateral acts and trade deals of certain countries” – a reference to Trump’s trade war – “clearly violate the basic principles and principles (of the World Trade Organization) and seriously affect the global economic and trade order”.
Li also told the WEF that “every country has the right to protect its legitimate rights and interests”, a point that could apply to Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland, as well as China’s claims to places like Taiwan.
“In many ways, China has chosen to cast itself as a stable and responsible global actor amid the disruption we’re seeing from the US. Reiterating its support for the UN system and global norms is enough to strengthen China’s position, especially in the countries of the global South,” said Bjorn Capellin, an analyst at the Jay Alley, China National Center.
West is listening
John Gong, professor of economics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told Al Jazeera that a series of recent trips by European leaders to China showed that the Global North was also listening. Other notable signs include the UK’s recognition of a Chinese “mega embassy” in London, Gong said, and progress in trade over the year. dispute Exports of electric vehicles (EVs) to Europe exceed China’s.
The starrer is expected to strike more trade and investment deals with Beijing this week, according to UK media.
“The series of events taking place in Europe seems to suggest a reform of Europe’s China policy – for the better, of course – in the face of what is happening against Europe from Washington,” Gong told Al Jazeera.
The shifting diplomatic calculus is also evident in Canada, which has shown a renewed desire to deepen economic ties with China after several spats with Trump over the past year.
Carney is the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to Beijing since Justin Trudeau left in 2017 and was accompanied by a Canadian prime minister. transactions Beijing agreed to lower tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports and Ottawa to lower tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Trump criticized news of the deal and threatened to impose 100 percent trade tariffs on Canada if the deal goes ahead.
In a statement last weekend on the Truth social platform, Trump wrote that he was “very wrong” if he thought Carney “could become a ‘drop off port’ for China to ship goods and products to the United States.”
Carney and Xi’s meeting this month thawed years of strained relations after Canada arrested a Huawei executive. Meng Wanzhou In late 2018 at the behest of the US. Beijing then arrested two Canadians in what was widely seen as retaliation. Meng was released in 2021 after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors in New York.
In Davos, Carney told world leaders there had been a “breakdown in the global order” in an apparent reference to Trump, then remarked in the Canadian House of Commons this week that “almost nothing was normal anymore” in the US, according to the CBC.
Carney also said in a call with Trump this week that Ottawa should continue to diversify its trade deals with countries beyond the US, although there are no plans yet for a free-trade agreement with China.
Filling the gap
Hanscom Smith, a former US diplomat and senior fellow at Yale’s Jackson School of International Affairs, told Al Jazeera that Beijing’s appeal could be undermined by other factors.
“When the United States deals more, a vacuum is created, and it’s not clear to what extent China or Russia, or any other power, can fill the vacuum. It’s not necessarily a zero-sum game,” he told Al Jazeera. “Many countries want good relations with both the United States and China and don’t want to choose between them.”
Despite offering more reliable business deals, China remains an obvious concern Huge global trade surplusThat rose to $1.2 trillion last year.
It has benefited greatly from the fallout from Trump’s trade war as Chinese manufacturers – facing multiple tariffs from the US and slowing demand at home – have expanded their supply chains to places like Southeast Asia and sought new markets beyond the US.
China’s record trade surplus has alarmed some European leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, who called in Davos for more foreign direct investment from China but not “massive excess capacity and distortionary practices” in the form of export dumping.
Lee sought to address similar concerns in his Davos speech. “We never seek a trade surplus; in addition to being the world’s factory, we hope to become a world market. However, in many cases, when China wants to buy, others don’t want to sell. Trade issues often become security barriers,” he said.