2019年8月25日，法国总统伊曼纽尔·马克龙，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普，日本首相安倍晋三，英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊，德国总理安格拉·默克尔，加拿大总理贾斯汀·特鲁多以及意大利代总理朱塞佩·孔特，在法国比亚里茨举行的G7峰会期间与受邀嘉宾合影留念。图片：路透社。

特朗普上台以来，随着中美贸易摩擦不断加剧，中国很多人担心欧洲和美国联手向中国施压。然而，8月24-26日在法国海滨度假胜地比亚里茨举行的七国集团（G7）峰会表明，欧洲国家本身与美国在贸易问题上的分歧和冲突也在增大。事实上，由于欧美双方在贸易及其他方面的严重立场冲突，加上七国本身影响力下降，G7的存在价值已受到很多欧洲国家舆论的质疑。

峰会落幕时发表的短短一页纸的声明写道，G7支持维护开放和公平的世界贸易及世界经济的稳定，希望深度改革WTO，以便更有效地保护知识产权，更迅速地解决争端、消除不公平贸易行为。但由于美国与其余六国存在严重分歧，峰会并没有拿出任何具体的行动举措。可以肯定，此次峰会将不仅以G7成立44年来首次未发表联合公报而载入历史，也将因为峰会被贸易冲突阴云所笼罩而被人们记住。

欧美自二战结束以来一直保持着同盟关系。冷战结束后欧美关系有所松弛，彼此经贸竞争开始突出。但特朗普上台以来，随着美国推行“美国优先”政策，欧美在经贸领域呈现出了持续的紧张局势。

欧美贸易紧张局势始于美国2018年3月宣布对欧洲国家加征钢铝关税。同年7月，欧盟委员会主席容克在到访白宫时与特朗普达成休战协定，然而相互对立局势并未因此消除。美国不断威胁对欧洲汽车加税更成为欧洲的心腹之患。今年以来，美欧航空补贴争端的升级以及法国和美国围绕数字服务税展开的争端，令欧美贸易对峙气氛有增无减。

据报道，欧盟近日已准备了一份长达173页的针对美国对欧贸易战的反击方案。该方案还透露，欧盟将设立一个1000亿欧元的“欧洲未来基金”，用于投资战略性行业，以应对谷歌、苹果及阿里巴巴等公司的竞争。

虽然做好了应对美国的准备，但欧盟并不愿与美国进行贸易战。事实上，由于欧洲国家的经济严重依赖出口，其已成为美国贸易政策的受害者。今年以来，IMF、世界银行以及欧盟委员会均下调了欧盟和欧元区的经济增长预期。预计欧盟2019年的经济增长只有1.5%，作为欧洲经济发动机的德国增长率预计仅为0.5%，意大利为0.2%。而美国贸易政策引发的紧张局势，特别是中美贸易摩擦产生的不确定性，被认为是欧盟经济下行的首要原因。

欧洲和美国特朗普政府的贸易立场分歧主要表现在以下方面：第一，欧洲国家捍卫多边主义，反对美国推行的单边主义。欧洲国家和欧盟认为，国家之间发生贸易冲突应该在WTO内通过谈判加以解决，单边主义的做法将损害国际贸易秩序。第二，欧盟坚持自由贸易，反对美国打着“美国优先”的旗号搞赤裸裸的保护主义。今年以来欧盟明显加大了建设自贸区的步伐，继欧盟-日本自贸区正式生效后，欧盟与南方共同市场的自贸区协定谈判也宣告完成。欧盟希望以此来表达其对美国贸易保护主义的严重不满。第三，欧盟坚持任何贸易谈判必须相互尊重，在平等基础上开展。欧盟认为美国的做法是把枪放在别国的脑袋上，这对于主权国家来说是不能够接受的。

自从特朗普去年5月开始对中国采取强硬的贸易政策以来，中国舆论界和学界不少人非常担心美国会和欧洲一起对付中国。欧美达成贸易休战以后，这一担心变得更加普遍。然而，我们看到欧盟并没有也不愿意和美国站在一起。欧盟国家在贸易、市场准入等方面对中国的抱怨与美国相似，但为什么欧盟不愿意和美国站在一起？欧盟委员会负责贸易事务的委员马尔姆斯特伦的回答是，因为特朗普站在历史错误的一边。

欧洲国家虽然也日益将中国视为经济竞争对手，但中欧在支持自由贸易、反对单边主义和贸易保护主义方面有共同利益。中欧应该共同推动WTO改革，维护多边贸易秩序，落实中欧领导人今年会晤时达成的2020年完成中欧双边投资协定的承诺，切实缓解双方在贸易投资领域的关切，并寻求开展中欧自贸区可行性研究。

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.