South China Morning Post: Is Europe, the world’s geopolitical punching bag, ready to hit back at the US and China?

Source: South China Morning Post

We were interviewed by the South China Morning Post. Excerpts:

“At Barth’s Geostrategic Europe Taskforce, researchers identified 67 products where Europe supplied more than 80 per cent of US imports. There were also 41 products – none of them easily substituted – that China sourced overwhelmingly from the EU.

While China’s dependency on Dutch company ASML’s semiconductor photolithography is well known, less is said about its near-total reliance on Europe for large steam turbines for power generation, or the European presses it needs to make the particle and fibreboard for the housing industry.

In addition, leveraging the EU’s virtual monopoly on insulin and derivatives could send China into a public health crisis overnight – even if it is unimaginable at present.

“Contrary to widespread perceptions, Europe does possess significant tools of power … these dependencies are not easily or quickly substitutable and therefore constitute deployable instruments of statecraft,” the authors wrote.

The paper made clear that EU leverage would be amplified if it pooled its choke points with aligned middle powers such as Canada and Japan.

A terrifying arsenal is one thing, but using it is another – and it is still unclear whether Europe is ready to start firing.

Throughout 2025, the evidence was to the contrary. Through several rounds of US tariffs and Chinese export controls, Brussels kept its powder dry.”