Spain Courts China in New Asia Strategy as US Ties Sour

Article content

(Bloomberg) — Spain is planning to build more political and financial links to China as US President Donald Trump upends the global economic order.

Article content

The tactic is part of a new Asia-Pacific strategy that outlines Madrid’s priorities for the next three years. The document, seen by Bloomberg News ahead of its release on Friday, calls for more high-level meetings and economic exchanges between Spain and China, while encouraging other European countries to coordinate on their relationship with Beijing.

Article content

Article content

Article content

“Spain seeks to advance a positive and ambitious bilateral agenda with China, reinforcing the comprehensive strategic partnership as well as the excellent bilateral relationship,” the strategy says.

Article content

Article content

The strategy reaffirms Spain’s position as Europe’s leader on efforts to deepen ties to China — and its willingness to rebuff Trump administration warnings in doing so. Last year, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez traveled to Beijing just days after Trump announced tariffs on nearly every country, a move Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blasted as “cutting your own throat.”

Article content

“We maintain a good relationship with China; we work to ensure that this remains the case, given that it is a major global actor,” the Spanish government said in a statement to Bloomberg regarding the strategy. “The same applies to the United States. This is consistent with our overall foreign policy, and in fact many European countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, are doing something similar.”

Article content

Sánchez will next visit China from April 13 to 15, marking his fourth appearance in just over three years. While there, the prime minister is expected to meet President Xi Jinping and will be accompanied by Spanish business leaders. King Felipe VI also paid a state visit to Beijing and Chengdu last November.

Article content

Article content

Spain’s push to deepen its relationship with China not only risks irking the US, but even some of its European neighbors. While numerous European countries, including Germany, are seeking to stabilize ties with Beijing as the transatlantic partnership fractures, those same countries also increasingly see China as an economic rival that has undermined European manufacturing. 

Article content

Madrid’s new foreign policy blueprint calls on European Union countries to “address in a coordinated manner the more structural dimensions of relations with actors the size of China and India, in particular those relating to the overall framework of economic and trade relations.” It also describes cooperation with China as “essential” on global issues such as climate change.

Article content

For itself, Madrid wants to improve Spanish companies’ access to the Chinese market while also attracting investment in sectors such as automotive manufacturing and renewable energy. Spain currently runs a significant trade deficit with China.

Article content

“Economic exchanges between Spain and Asia-Pacific are at their highest level in history, and the region’s share of Spain’s foreign trade continues to grow,” the strategy says. “Since 2024, China has been Spain’s top supplier, ahead of Germany and France.”

Article content

Among the proposed measures in the document is the establishment of “a strategic dialogue mechanism at the ministerial level to further strengthen and institutionalize the high-level exchanges of recent years.” The strategy also says Spain is particularly interested in China’s rare earths industry, as well as scientific and cultural cooperation.

Article content

“Our strategy should be understood as complementary to European action towards our Asian partners,” the government said in its statement to Bloomberg.

Article content