Editor's note: Abu Naser Al Farabi, a special commentator for CGTN, is a Dhaka-based analyst focusing on international politics, especially Asian affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

In the wake of Joe Biden's issuance of an executive order last week, restricting U.S. investment into China's quantum computing, advanced chips, and artificial intelligence sectors, the discussion about whether the EU would adopt similar measures against China hovers across the strategic ambit. In response to Biden's order, the European Commission signaled that it will not "immediately follow" the U.S. but instead "analyze the Executive Order closely in close contact with the U.S. administration" and work on making its own proposal.

Brussels, however, announced in June that it was planning to put forward proposals, seeking to impose new controls to limit China from acquiring high tech by the end of the year. But the proposals have faced reasonable resistance from European economic heavyweights – Germany and France – and other member states, as the proposals pose a serious risk to Europe's economic potentiality given its economic weight and heavily intertwined nature with external markets.

From the very beginning of its strategic race to contain China's economic and technological advancement, the United States has tried to coax and, in some cases, strong-arm its European allies into following its strategic playbook against China. Earlier, it had coerced the Netherlands into joining the trilateral alliance with Japan on banning semiconductor technology exports to China – at hefty costs to the country's economy and against ample opposition from sizeable quarters.

With Sino-American strategic rivalry escalating and America's pressure to pull them into its China-containment strategy mounting, the EU countries have increasingly faced uphill challenges to preserve their collective political sovereignty and strategic independence, thereby, sometimes prompting their leadership to voice against the U.S.'s intrusive dominance on the issues of European external engagements. In April, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the EU should not be a "vassal" of the U.S. in the geopolitical clash between the U.S. and China over the Taiwan question.

The focus on Europe's pursuit of the much-debated issue of "strategic autonomy" has so far mostly been fixated on military and defense security. The discussions, however, about the comprehensive European strategic autonomy – beyond security and defense, and across the strategic, economic, industrial, and technological policy domains – have largely been overlooked. Resultantly, the European Union in particular, once reputed for its formidable negotiating and regulatory power as the largest trade bloc in the world and shared significant global economic output, has over the years been experiencing a significant decline in economic, industrial and technological competitiveness.

Whether it is the conflict in Ukraine or America's tech coercion against China, Europe has essentially been on the receiving end of heavy costs. Due to higher energy prices, European industries now pay around six times higher than the average price of the previous 10 years and more than four times as much for energy as their American competitors. 

European industry is currently reeling under the twin threats of high energy prices due to the loss of cheap Russian gas and Biden's nakedly protectionist Inflation Reduction Act – a $369 billion-subsidy blitz, which is, in essence, bribing Europe's potential green industries to migrate to the U.S., prompting de-investment in Europe as companies are cutting their investments in Europe and shifting to the U.S.

Recently, Stefan Hartung, the head of Europe's largest car parts supplier Bosch, has urged European governments to spend more time improving the competitiveness of the EU instead of being excessively worried about China. In November last year, Thomas Schafer, senior executive of German car giant Volkswagen, raised similar concerns, saying that in an international comparison, Germany and other EU countries are "rapidly losing their attractiveness and competitiveness."

Europe's Trans-Atlantic "vassalage" to the U.S. has over the decades resulted in plummeting economic, manufacturing, and technological clout. To illustrate, the global GDP share of the current 28 EU countries, which accounted for approximately 30 percent in 1980, is expected to decrease to just one-tenth by 2100, according to the Pardee Center of the University of Denver. Moreover, the global share of Europe's key industries, such as semiconductors, has significantly declined. Back in 1990, Europe produced 44 percent of the world's semiconductors, but now it has dwindled to only 9 percent.

Biden's increasingly intensified self-serving economic and technological warfare against China has only been adding woes to the European economy, further eroding its economic and political relevance on the world stage. Europe should restrain from blindly following Biden's disruptive investment curbs on China in excuse of so-called illusive Trans-Atlantic unity. They should discern who is the eventual winner of the U.S.'s hostile China policy – the U.S. itself.

In 2008, the economy of the European Union was slightly bigger than that of the United States, with $16.2 trillion compared to $14.7 trillion. However, as of 2022, the U.S. economy has expanded to $25 trillion, while the combined economies of the EU and UK have only reached $19.8 trillion. This means that the U.S. economy is now almost one-third larger than that of the EU and more than 50 percent larger than the EU without the UK.

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