Invasion will have “dramatic consequences” on member states’ economies
With another ‘groundhog-US-tariff-announcements-day’ dawning, the knock-on consequences of all the uncertainty suggest that China will end up ‘dumping’ large quantities of goods on alternative markets, as it doggedly refuses to ‘play ball’ with President Donald Trump.
Talking in Lisbon even before the latest confusion over whether or not smartphones and computers from China will or will not be exempt from dizzying tariffs, minister for territorial cohesion Manuel Castro Almeida said the Chinese “will be trying to invade Europe from a commercial point of view. It will be dramatic for our economic system” and “nothing will remain as it was before”.
“There is a climate of instability that does not augur at all well”, said Castro Almeida at an event on the latest position of Portugal with regard to PRR (Plan for Recovery and Resilience) funding, saying “we have to become resistant to the difficulties that are approaching”.
Unfortunately, he did not drill down into how Portugal intends to become resistant to a Chinese ‘invasion’ of cheap produce. Indeed, he suggested that the greatest stress will be elsewhere in Europe, but that Portugal will not be immune to what will be “enormous effects”.
Further afield, the United Kingdom is trying to face down a direct Chinese challenge when it comes to ‘cheap steel’, while reports in the international press describe a “diplomatic charm offensive of sorts” with Chinese officials painting the country as “the reliable partner” in an arena battered by “unilateral bullying”. ND
Sources in Portugal: ECO online
