For example, last April a dozen diplomats from Europe and other allied countries were invited to the U.S. State Department in order to convey two U.S.’s warnings to their governments: First, do not be deceived with cooperation with China because China’s policy indicates that dominance of the East over the West will come after economic dominance. The main issue in those two messages was China’s big project of the Silk Road which is comprised of a rail and a marine roads from China to Europe.

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It is interesting that this message is dictated by a super power on Europe while at the same time Europe and China have been surprised by the new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Does the U.S. expect Europe and China to part ways while it itself has put both sides in the same basket?

The Atlantic monthly quoted a European diplomat as saying, “No one was willing to go along with it even if he agrees that China is a strategic threat.” This happened while Beijing was hosting the second summit on “the Belt and Road Initiative” and half a dozen EU heads of state and government attended.

The second strategic message of the U.S. was that some European states like Austria and Italy did not support the U.S. and it was a negative reaction to the U.S. pullout of the JCPOA and this message actually neither had serious impact nor was applicable. Of course the message had, to some extent  threatened,  Europeans who have not been serious in any of their promises to Iranians.

At that time, many media outlets in Europe and East of the world either in China or Japan claimed that the meeting in the U.S. State Department might likely be the last sign of Washington’s hope for winning Europe’s reluctance to stand up to economic projects of China and Iran.

Now the U.S. has either to leave the game, which is positively in favor of Iran and China, or to create a new threat for bringing Europe together to accompany it. Otherwise what is now currently between the U.S. and Europe is just the passage of time with an eye on probable change. China’s approach to Iran and Europe is not considered a potential rivalry among Europeans but the Americans think otherwise.

Of course, Europe on the pretext of the U.S. pressure and to some extent with independent incentive continued both sanctions on Russia and exerting pressure on China as it revisits its interactions: More toughening up conditions for China’s investment in European states, changes in regulations related to the competitiveness in order to become sure that China does not have unfair advantage comparing to its rivals for investment and even proclaiming that China is a strategic rival for Europe.

After Trump took office, the U.S. makes comments about China in a way as if China is life threatening but Europe looks differently and look at China as a potential rival. The U.S. is even after beefing up pressure on the World Trade Organization (WTO) for an international pressure on China. Between what Europeans think and what the Americans think there are miles of distance. What is supposed to fill this gap? Predictions claim that if Europe’s tolerance against the U.S. pressure ends and because of its common interests with China and Russia in terms of cooperation of Eastern powers with the U.S., it may turn to divergence and the world will have another approach in front of it towards the economic progress.

By: Hamid Reza Naghashian