Amid severe geopolitical tensions brought on by Donald Trump’s tariff war, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in Beijing for the second stop of a two-country tour to Asia. Sánchez, who visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Wednesday, hailed the tariff halt as “a gateway to negotiation and agreement between countries,” following Trump’s 90-day suspension of tariffs on everyone but China.
The White House cautioned the Spanish administration not to cozy up to Beijing before his visit. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, going to China rather than the United States would be a “losing bet for the Europeans” and would be like “cutting your own throat,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
Although there is still a noticeable disparity in favor of the Asian powerhouse, trade between Spain and China is growing. According to the Ministry of Economy figures, Spain’s exports to China in 2024 barely amounted to €7.4 billion, while its purchases from China exceeded €45 billion.
China is now Spain’s second-largest provider of goods and its fourth-largest trading partner, yet it is just the twelfth-largest destination for Spanish exports.
Such global issues can only be resolved by multilateralism and international solidarity. Spain stands up for an open world. In Vietnam, Sánchez declared, “A world where trade unites our people and makes them more prosperous.
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