At the 25th China-EU Summit in Beijing, Chinese and European leaders acknowledged both overlapping interests and deep divergences, especially over China’s seeming alignment with Russia and the Ukraine war. While Beijing seeks improved economic ties with Europe, it continues to prioritize geopolitical security and its strategic rivalry with the U.S. over European concerns, limiting the prospects for major diplomatic improvements.

Earlier this year, the Chinese firm CATL, the world’s largest battery-maker, unveiled an electric-vehicle (EV) battery capable of delivering a remarkable 520 kilometers (323 miles) of driving range after just five minutes of charging. The announcement came a month after BYD, China’s leading EV manufacturer, launched its own ultra-fast charging system. In solar, too, the numbers are staggering: Chinese firms can now produce over 1,200 gigawatts of solar panels annually.

The EU and U.S. have agreed to a tactical cease-fire, not a strategic settlement. As long as Europe pursues strategic autonomy and Washington replaces rules-based multilateralism with transactional deals, fresh disputes are inevitable.

European Union leaders’ proclamations of supply autonomy sound great under the spotlight, but don’t hold up under the microscope. The truth may be that China already has won the game with its vice-grip on rare metal exports.

The European establishment has ramped up its efforts to counter far-right forces, a move that will profoundly shape transatlantic relations in the Trump 2.0 era.

Arbitrary policies introduced by the U.S. president have accelerated a shift of the international order and introduced new dynamics to relations between major powers. Most countries are reluctant to follow Trump’s lead because they have little to gain by doing so. Several are quietly thinking about ways to turn his disruptions into opportunity.

Step by step, Europe has flubbed their chances to remain relevant since China’s rise, and now it may be too late for the EU to regain its clout in the global order. Is the dream of a multipolar world coming to a premature end?

For China-EU relations to develop into a stable, mutually beneficial partnership, the EU must undertake a more profound reassessment of its perception of China’s rise and the evolving dynamics of economic competition.

The second Trump administration’s China policies have thus far been very opaque and difficult to discern. However, in recent weeks a variety of indicators are beginning to make them clearer—and one dominant theme emerges: China will be viewed as America’s principal adversary.

With the Global South rising, Europe’s renewed emphasis on strategic independence from the United States could partially offset its relative decline in hard power and accelerate global multi-polarity.