Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has come to China to boost co-operation with the world’s second-largest economy and reset trade ties, she said on Tuesday during a visit aimed at strengthening relations after withdrawing from the “One Belt, One Road” programme.
Meloni, making her first visit to China as prime minister since Italy pulled out of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship initiative last year, said the eurozone’s third-largest economy wanted to rebalance ties with Beijing. She told reporters:
Today, Italian investment in China is about three times higher than Chinese investment in Italy. We definitely want to work on removing obstacles for our products to access the Chinese market.
Asked what the right-wing government, which she has led since 2022, hoped to gain from her visit, Meloni said Italy was keen to “strengthen our co-operation with the aim of… explicitly rebalancing trade.”
Italy is of strategic importance to China because it has previously clashed with Beijing. It could prove to be a deterrent voice in the European Union as the 27-member bloc weighs whether to back the Commission on duties on Chinese electric cars.
EU members will vote in October on whether to impose additional duties on Chinese electric cars. Italy is one of the countries that has said it will support the proposal.
Italy became the only member of the Group of Seven industrialised democracies to join Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure investment programme aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road trade route in 2019. It marked a diplomatic coup for China. Although Rome eventually withdrew from the programme last year under US pressure, it has made it clear it still wants to develop trade ties with the $18.6 trillion economy.
Balanced trade and investment
Asked whether she and Xi Jinping discussed the opening of Chinese carmakers’ factories in Italy during their meeting on Monday, Meloni said “no” but added:
The issue of electric mobility is one of the topics included in our memorandum on industrial co-operation.
Meloni told Xi on Monday that Italy plays an important role in China’s relationship with the EU, which is currently dominated by talk of tariffs, but went on to say she hoped for a trade relationship that is “as balanced as possible.”
