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The European Union has had a difficult year in trade policy. On the one hand, the US, Europe’s largest trade partner and security guarantor, has forced the EU into an unequal trade agreement, imposing 15 per cent US tariffs on most European products while the EU removes all tariffs from US industrial goods. On the other hand, Chinese exports, supported by an economic model that aims to maximise production through an array of direct and indirect subsidies, are challenging and even outcompeting European manufacturers in key sectors, such as cars. Meanwhile, China is also aggressively leveraging its stranglehold on rare earths and other sectors to obtain concessions in trade disputes.