Generally we surprise what world European leaders suppose they’re residing in. The European Union on Thursday responded to China’s commerce assault towards its member state Lithuania by submitting a . . . grievance on the World Commerce Group. Discuss bringing a quill pen to a gun struggle. The EU says it can fight China’s “discriminatory trade practises” against Lithuania. “We won’t take the step of launching a WTO case for nothing.” After many failed attempts to solve the problem “bilaterally,” we don’t see any other way forward. The EU’s commerce commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis is the name of the person who wrote this stated. When things are done that don’t follow WTO rules, the EU will do what it can to stop them quickly. This is how it will act. How “decided” does that sound? Even though China says it doesn’t, Beijing has been able to put a trade embargo on Lithuania after Lithuania improved its ties with Taiwan. China’s restrictions on imports, exports, and service providers have also hit other European items that use Lithuanian parts. Reuters reported in December that the Chinese government had told a German car parts manufacturer to stop using Lithuanian-made parts in its supply chain. China’s international ministry said Thursday that the European Union’s complaint is “baseless and inconsistent,” and it told the European Union to be “cautious” of Lithuania, as if the tiny Baltic country was the trade threat. Despite what Beijing says, the Chinese Communist Party uses trade as a way to fight. Because Australia named for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19, it’s also punishing Australia for that. Going to the WTO has symbolic value, but it isn’t known for quickly resolving disputes. The EU and China can start “talks” that could last for months. If these don’t work, the case would go to a WTO panel about how to get people to come. The whole process could take years, and in the meantime, Lithuania is hurt. The only thing China understands right now is how much money they have. If Beijing doesn’t stop punishing Lithuania, EU trade retaliation will send a more powerful message than a legal filing on the WTO, which is what the EU does. Killing the EU-China funding deal, which was agreed to in principle more than a year ago but hasn’t been signed into law, would get Beijing’s
