Atlantik-Brücke to Debate China Shock 2.0 as Germany Faces EU Trade Choices

2 articles · Updated · Atlantik-Brücke e.V. · Aug 20

Atlantik-Brücke will convene a discussion on Germany’s China challenge, focusing on competitiveness risks, possible EU countermeasures and how to preserve transatlantic alignment.
China’s industrial and trade policies are driving the debate by intensifying pressure on Europe’s core sectors, with autos, machinery, chemicals and aircraft described as facing unprecedented—even existential—competition.
Brad Setser, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow and former adviser to the U.S. Trade Representative and Treasury, is joining the event alongside Sander Tordoir’s “China shock 2.0” framework.
The broader question is whether Germany and the EU should enter a more defensive trade phase even as U.S. responses show there is still no clear modern blueprint for managing the China challenge.