What About The Trade Wars? Europe’s Uncertain China Strategy – INTERVIEW

An interview with Noah Barkin

19 September 2025

Staś Kaleta

Editor

As Donald Trump began his second term in office, European officials hoped that the need to act against China would bridge transatlantic relations. Instead, Europe would go on to experience economic coercion like never before, caught between US trade threats and China’s rare earth controls. So, what strategy should Europe adopt for China? What are the risks, and opportunities?

At the Europe Future Forum 2025, our annual strategic foresight event in mid-September, Staś Kaleta sat down with Noah Barkin, Senior Advisor in Rhodium Group’s China practice and a Visiting Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific Programme at the German Marshall Fund. This is an edited transcript of their discussion, and you can listen to the full podcast below:

Staś Kaleta: What do you make of Donald Trumps recent Truth Social post, demanding that NATO allies impose 50-100% tariffs on China? Could something like this ever happen?

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Staś Kaleta

Editor

Staś Kaleta is an editor at Visegrad Insight and writes the Weekly Outlook. He has an MA in International Journalism from City University, London, an MA in Issues in Modern Culture from UCL and a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford. Previous experience includes roles as Editor in Chief at UCL’s Pi Media and Head of Speakers at TEDxOxford.

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