Von der Leyen’s ‘China shock’ speech aimed to send Beijing a message: analysts

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s state-of-the-union speech offered few details on new trade measures targeting China, but its sharp tone was designed to send a message to Beijing, analysts said.

During her speech on Wednesday, von der Leyen warned that a “second China shock” was already affecting Europe and vowed that Brussels would use all available tools to rebalance its trade relationship with the country.

Her remarks came as the European Union’s October deadline for securing tangible results in rebalancing trade with China approaches. EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic held a video conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao as planned on Thursday.

Though the speech was light on specifics, the fact that China was the third topic addressed and explicitly mentioned as a threat to Europe was significant, according to Peter Chase, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a former US diplomat in Brussels.