EU-China trade war: Beijing turns the screws as Brussels tests limits of restraint

Last Thursday, the European Union added 14 Chinese companies to its latest round of sanctions, accusing them of providing support for Russia’s war against Ukraine – but few of the names were recognisable to anyone outside narrow trading and compliance circles. Officials were taken aback less than 24 hours later, when Beijing – which had been notified of the ragtag group of traders and freight forwarders to be listed by the EU as far back as June – fired back ferociously. Unlike the long…