China is looking for friends

China's top representatives held a series of meetings with European ambassadors last week to ask them to stand with Beijing against US protectionism, according to a report from Reuters.

They say China has sought the moral high ground as a defender of the multilateral trade system.

From Reuters:

"The individual meetings, which were called by Fu, were generally "non-confrontational" as China sought support in countering the United States, a European diplomat with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. There were, though, some "subliminal threats" about consequences for foreign companies, this person said.

"The message was that we have to stand together against U.S. protectionism in favour of free trade," the diplomat said.

"China is showing confidence, but internally they appear quite concerned. They have apparently underestimated Trump's resolve on trade," the diplomat said, adding that Beijing is nervous about China's major trading partners siding with Washington.

Meanwhile, my belief is that the US is using the threat of steel tariffs to get the EU on its side.