Exclusive interview with British economist Luo Siyi: Cooperation with China is the reasonable choice for Europe

Recently, European trade protectionism against China has continued to rise. However, this year, the number of European companies participating in the CIIE has reached thousands, and European academic and industrial circles have also issued different voices to oppose trade protectionism. Luo Siyi, a British economist who came to the CIIE to participate in the Shanghai Hongqiao International Economic Forum, believes that Europe's economic problems are not caused by China. While some people in the government continue to promote protectionism, European industry entities have begun to oppose protectionism.

From last year's speech on "Open Trade under the Countercurrent of Economic Globalization" to this year's talk with scholars from various countries on "A New Path to Opening up the Global Economy in Balance," Luo Siyi has always firmly believed that even if trade protectionism continues to rise, economic globalization is still the general trend.

Luo Siyi, former director of the London Office of Economic and Business Policy and foreign senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China: There is no deglobalization at the moment. On the contrary, globalization is still continuing. If you look at the World Bank's 2025 global trade data, global trade accounts for 68% of global GDP, which is the highest level in history. This is true. Most of the world has not turned to protectionism.

Since it imposed additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles last year, Europe has frequently put pressure on China in the name of so-called "overcapacity." In the second half of this year, some European countries proposed that they should speed up the development of the European version of the "301" tool and take tougher measures against China. The EU summit held last month proposed a "dual-track" approach to China, which will increase restrictions on China while continuing intensive consultations.

CCTV reporter Huang Da: In your opinion, the recent rise in trade protectionism in Europe is related to the industrial difficulties Europe is currently facing?

Luo Siyi, former director of the London Office of Economic and Business Policy and foreign senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China: In general, Europe is now facing slow growth, higher inflation than other developed countries, and large-scale wars. However, Europe’s economic problems are not caused by China. Europe’s economic problems lie in Europe itself. Some politicians are accustomed to blaming others for their problems instead of reflecting on themselves.

Luo Siyi pointed out that while some people in the government continue to promote protectionism, industry entities have begun to oppose protectionism.

Luo Siyi, former director of the London Economic and Business Policy Office and foreign senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China: For example, German car companies strongly oppose protectionism. Europe may be able to protect the German automobile industry only within Europe, but Germany is a major automobile exporter. It does not just sell cars in Germany or Europe, it must be competitive in the international market. Protection will make companies become comfortable and slack, and lose the motivation to compete in the global market.

China is currently the most important global single market for many European brands. At the same time, Chinese innovative technologies are also driving the intelligent transformation of many European industries. Luo Siyi pointed out that by adopting completely wrong protectionist policies and export restrictions against China, the situation in Europe will not get better, but will only continue to worsen.

Luo Siyi, former director of the London Economic and Business Policy Office and foreign senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China: Which countries have the closest economic and trade ties with China? Southeast Asia and ASEAN countries. If there really is a "China Shock 2.0", ASEAN should suffer a severe economic blow, but the fact is just the opposite. This shows that these arguments are not motivated by serious economic considerations at all. Therefore, from an economic perspective, cooperation with China is a reasonable choice. This model has proven to be very successful in the past and is a huge win-win for both parties. Europe needs to introduce a series of more rational policies.