A European Union (EU) official says the EU will not “gang up” with China against the United States, even if the trade group opposes America’s protectionist policies. Luca Jahier, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee, spoke before the yearly China-EU summit. The conference opened Monday in Beijing.

Jahier said he strongly opposes protectionism. But he added that increasing tensions with U.S. officials would not be the right answer. The South China Morning Post reported his comments.

China’s economy slows

The EU and Chinese officials met as China reported that its economic growth slowed a little in the three months ending in June. The Chinese economy grew at a rate of 6.7 percent, one tenth of one percent less than in the first three months of 2018.

Louis Kuijs is the head of Asia Economics at the Oxford Economics research group. Kuijs is based in Hong Kong. He told VOA that the slowing of China’s economy has been more modest than many experts expected.

His group believes China’s economy will expand 6.5 percent in 2018, with less growth expected for 2019.

However, Kuijs added that an important question is whether trade talks between China and the United States will restart. Kuijs said his group believes they will because of pressure from U.S. business groups and because China will be willing to make policy changes.

Aliqismet BADALOV,
“Khalq qazeti”