Spanish prime minister visits China during dispute over electric vehicles

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, left, and President Xi Jinping, second from right, attend their meeting at Diayoutai in Beijing, yesterday

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top officials yesterday during his second trip to China in a year and a half that comes during a spat over electric cars.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported the meeting at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House but gave no details about what they discussed.

The center-left Socialist leader also attended a business forum in Beijing for Spanish and Chinese companies before traveling to Shanghai later yesterday. Today he is attending more business events and the inauguration of a Cervantes Institute, a center that promotes Spanish language and culture.

Prior to holding talks and dining with Xi, Sánchez held talks with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang and the head of the ceremonial legislature, Zhao Leji. Sánchez arrived late Sunday and departs Wednesday.

Sánchez visited China in March 2023 when Spain held the rotating European Union presidency.

Spain was among the EU members that expressed support earlier this year for a 36.7% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. The Chinese government responded by launching an investigation into imports of EU pork.

EU exports of pork products to China hit a peak of 7.4 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in 2020 when Beijing had to turn abroad to satisfy domestic demand after its pig farms were decimated by a swine disease. EU pork exports to China have dropped since then, hitting 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion) last year. Almost half of that total came from Spain.

The tension over pork has not stopped Spain from welcoming the plans of Chinese carmaker Chery to open a plant for electric vehicles in Barcelona. MDT/AP