The leaders of Italy and China signed a three-year action plan to implement previous agreements and experiment with new forms of co-operation.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is trying to reset relations with China as fears of a trade war with the European Union hamper interests in attracting Chinese investment in the continent’s automotive and other industries. At the start of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, she stated:
We certainly have a lot of work to do and I am convinced that this work can be useful in such a complex phase on a global level, and also important at a multilateral level.
Her five-day visit came a few months after Italy withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Nevertheless, Italy remains committed to maintaining a strong economic relationship with China.
Stellantis, a major carmaker that includes Italy’s Fiat, in May announced a joint venture with Leapmotor, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup, to start selling EVs in Europe.
Li, for his part, stated that China’s drive to modernise its economy would increase demand for high-quality products, expanding opportunities for co-operation between companies from the two countries.
At the same time, we hope the Italian side will work with China to provide a more fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies doing business in Italy.
Meloni told business leaders that the two sides signed an industrial co-operation memorandum that includes EVs and renewable energy. EVs have become a symbol of growing trade tensions between China and the EU as the European Union imposed temporary duties of up to 37.6 per cent on Chinese-made EVs in early July.
In response, China initiated an anti-dumping investigation into European pork exports, just days after the EU had announced the imposition of EV duties.
Italy’s decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019 gave China an opportunity to penetrate Western Europe and a symbolic impetus in then trade war with the United States. However, Italy says the promised economic benefits have not been realised, with its membership causing tension with other Western European governments and the United States.
