2019年8月25日，法國總統伊曼紐爾·馬克龍，美國總統唐納德·特朗普，日本首相安倍晉三，英國首相鮑里斯·約翰遜，德國總理安格拉·默克爾，加拿大總理賈斯汀·特魯多以及意大利代總理朱塞佩·孔特，在法國比亞里茨舉行的G7峰會期間與受邀嘉賓合影留念。圖片：路透社。

特朗普上台以來，隨着中美貿易摩擦不斷加劇，中國很多人擔心歐洲和美國聯手向中國施壓。然而，8月24-26日在法國海濱度假勝地比亞里茨舉行的七國集團（G7）峰會表明，歐洲國家本身與美國在貿易問題上的分歧和衝突也在增大。事實上，由於歐美雙方在貿易及其他方面的嚴重立場衝突，加上七國本身影響力下降，G7的存在價值已受到很多歐洲國家輿論的質疑。

峰會落幕時發表的短短一頁紙的聲明寫道，G7支持維護開放和公平的世界貿易及世界經濟的穩定，希望深度改革WTO，以便更有效地保護知識產權，更迅速地解決爭端、消除不公平貿易行為。但由於美國與其餘六國存在嚴重分歧，峰會並沒有拿出任何具體的行動舉措。可以肯定，此次峰會將不僅以G7成立44年來首次未發表聯合公報而載入歷史，也將因為峰會被貿易衝突陰雲所籠罩而被人們記住。

歐美自二戰結束以來一直保持着同盟關係。冷戰結束後歐美關係有所鬆弛，彼此經貿競爭開始突出。但特朗普上台以來，隨着美國推行“美國優先”政策，歐美在經貿領域呈現出了持續的緊張局勢。

歐美貿易緊張局勢始於美國2018年3月宣布對歐洲國家加征鋼鋁關稅。同年7月，歐盟委員會主席容克在到訪白宮時與特朗普達成休戰協定，然而相互對立局勢並未因此消除。美國不斷威脅對歐洲汽車加稅更成為歐洲的心腹之患。今年以來，美歐航空補貼爭端的升級以及法國和美國圍繞數字服務稅展開的爭端，令歐美貿易對峙氣氛有增無減。

據報道，歐盟近日已準備了一份長達173頁的針對美國對歐貿易戰的反擊方案。該方案還透露，歐盟將設立一個1000億歐元的“歐洲未來基金”，用於投資戰略性行業，以應對谷歌、蘋果及阿里巴巴等公司的競爭。

雖然做好了應對美國的準備，但歐盟並不願與美國進行貿易戰。事實上，由於歐洲國家的經濟嚴重依賴出口，其已成為美國貿易政策的受害者。今年以來，IMF、世界銀行以及歐盟委員會均下調了歐盟和歐元區的經濟增長預期。預計歐盟2019年的經濟增長只有1.5%，作為歐洲經濟發動機的德國增長率預計僅為0.5%，意大利為0.2%。而美國貿易政策引發的緊張局勢，特別是中美貿易摩擦產生的不確定性，被認為是歐盟經濟下行的首要原因。

歐洲和美國特朗普政府的貿易立場分歧主要表現在以下方面：第一，歐洲國家捍衛多邊主義，反對美國推行的單邊主義。歐洲國家和歐盟認為，國家之間發生貿易衝突應該在WTO內通過談判加以解決，單邊主義的做法將損害國際貿易秩序。第二，歐盟堅持自由貿易，反對美國打着“美國優先”的旗號搞赤裸裸的保護主義。今年以來歐盟明顯加大了建設自貿區的步伐，繼歐盟-日本自貿區正式生效後，歐盟與南方共同市場的自貿區協定談判也宣告完成。歐盟希望以此來表達其對美國貿易保護主義的嚴重不滿。第三，歐盟堅持任何貿易談判必須相互尊重，在平等基礎上開展。歐盟認為美國的做法是把槍放在別國的腦袋上，這對於主權國家來說是不能夠接受的。

自從特朗普去年5月開始對中國採取強硬的貿易政策以來，中國輿論界和學界不少人非常擔心美國會和歐洲一起對付中國。歐美達成貿易休戰以後，這一擔心變得更加普遍。然而，我們看到歐盟並沒有也不願意和美國站在一起。歐盟國家在貿易、市場准入等方面對中國的抱怨與美國相似，但為什麼歐盟不願意和美國站在一起？歐盟委員會負責貿易事務的委員馬爾姆斯特倫的回答是，因為特朗普站在歷史錯誤的一邊。

歐洲國家雖然也日益將中國視為經濟競爭對手，但中歐在支持自由貿易、反對單邊主義和貿易保護主義方面有共同利益。中歐應該共同推動WTO改革，維護多邊貿易秩序，落實中歐領導人今年會晤時達成的2020年完成中歐雙邊投資協定的承諾，切實緩解雙方在貿易投資領域的關切，並尋求開展中歐自貿區可行性研究。

French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Donald Trump, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italy's acting Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pose for a family photo with invited guests during the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, August 25, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/Pool

Since President Trump took office, U.S. trade relations with China have seen escalating tensions. Many in China are worried that Europe may side with the United States and pile pressure on China. Yet, the G7 Summit, which just concluded at the French seaside resort of Biarritz, showed that Europe and the United States diverge with and even increasingly confront each other on trade issues. Considering its fading influence, the continued value of the G7 has been thrown into doubt, even by European academia.

The G7 Summit culminated in a one page statement, reiterating G7 commitment to open and fair world trade and world economic stability, aspiration to deepening WTO reform, more effective protection of intellectual property rights, swifter settlement of trade disputes and addressing unfair trade practices. That said, due to glaring differences between the United States and the other six countries, the summit ended without any plan for concrete actions. The summit became the first G7 to close without a declaration in its 44-year history and will be remembered as a meeting shrouded in trade tensions.

The trans-Atlantic alliance has evolved significantly in the post-WWII years. With the end of the Cold War, trans-Atlantic competition became more prominent. The America First policy of the Trump administration has aggravated competition and led to sustained trade tensions between the two sides.

Escalating tensions began in March 2018, when the United States announced the imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum products from the EU. In July 2018, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called a truce before his visit to the White House, but the confrontation continued to simmer. The EU stood ready to retaliate in the face of ongoing threats from the United States to impose higher auto tariffs. This year, a trans-Atlantic spat over aerospace product subsidies and a digital service taxation argument between France and the United States only served to fuel the confrontation.

According to media reports, the EU has prepared a 173-page document on countermeasures in EU-U.S. trade tensions, including a plan to allocate 100 billion euros for a European Future Fund to invest in strategic industries to challenge competition from Google, Apple and Alibaba.

In spite of these plans, the EU remains reluctant to go into a trade war with the United States. After all, European countries rely heavily on export, which has become a casualty of U.S. trade policy. This year, the IMF, World Bank and European Commission downgraded economic forecasts for the EU and Europe as a whole. It was estimated that the EU economy would only grow at 1.5% for 2019, partly because the German economy, which has been an anchor of stability, would likely grow at a paltry 0.5% and Italy at 0.2%. Many believe that trade tensions between the United States and China are the primary driver for Europe's economic doldrums.

Trade tensions have laid bare key differences between the EU and the United States. First, Europe upholds multilateralism, whereas the United States champions unilateralism. Europe and the EU believe trade should be discussed under the WTO framework and that unilateralism would imperil global trade order. Second, the EU upholds free trade and stands opposed to such naked protectionism of the America First ethos. This year saw rapid progress in expanding inter-region free trade zones between the EU and other economies, such as the EU-Japan free trade zone, followed by the conclusion of free trade zone negotiations between the EU and Mercosur. These are gestures made by the EU to convey dissatisfaction of U.S. trade protectionism. Third, the EU insists that trade negotiations must be based on mutual respect and equality. The EU regards U.S. behavior as pointing a gun at another country's head and therefore unacceptable to any sovereign government.

Thus concerns that Europe may stand in unity with the United States against China appear to be unfounded. The EU has not sided with the United States, given that, as EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström so concisely put it, Trump is on the wrong side of history.

European countries increasingly see China as an economic competitor. But they also share common ground with China in upholding free trade and opposing unilateralism and protectionism. China and the EU should work jointly to promote WTO reform in order to safeguard the multilateral trade order. They should work together to deliver on the China-EU leaders' meeting commitment to conclude a bilateral investment treaty by 2020, address each other's concerns on trade and advance a feasibility study on the China-EU free trade zone.