Spanish prime minister visits China to shore up trade & cultural ties amid EV tariff spat

BEIJING: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top officials on Monday during his second trip to China in a year-and-a-half that comes amid a spat over electric cars.

The centre-left Socialist leader will also attend a business forum in Beijing for Spanish and Chinese companies before travelling to Shanghai later Monday. The next day he will attend more business events and the inauguration of a Cervantes Institute, a centre that promotes Spanish language and culture.

Prior to holding talks and dining with Xi, Sánchez will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Li Qiang, and the head of the ceremonial legislature, Zhao Leji. Sánchez arrived late Sunday and departs Wednesday.

Sánchez visited China in March 2023 when Spain held the rotating European Union presidency.

Spain was among the EU members that expressed support earlier this year for a 36.7 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. The Chinese government responded by launching an investigation into EU pork imports.

EU exports of pork products to China hit a peak at 7.4 billion euros (USD 7.9 billion) in 2020 when Beijing had to turn abroad to satisfy domestic demand after its pig farms were decimated by a swine disease. EU pork exports to China have dropped since then, hitting 2.5 billion euros (USD 2.6 billion) last year. Almost half of that total came from Spain.

The tension over pork has not stopped Spain from welcoming the plans of Chinese carmaker Chery to open a plant for electric vehicles in Barcelona.