The European Union and the United States have long been at odds over how best to deal with China. The European desire to sell arms to China in 2005 erupted into a damaging transatlantic row. And at the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, in November 2020, European governments refused to back U.S. efforts to press China more forcefully to appreciate the Chinese currency, the renminbi.

While these squabbles have grabbed headlines, they paint an incomplete picture. In recent years, there has been reassuring evidence of growing tactical cooperation between Washington and Brussels on trade matters. Moreover, in a global economy, there is a growing commonality of interest between the European Union and the United States on business and commercial issues now that China has become a leading trading and investment partner for both economies. At the same time there is a shared frustration with Beijing’s recent actions constraining the activities and opportunities of European and U.S. businesses in China. And there are a common set of problems that Europe and the United States can work together to solve, involving Chinese investment, government procurement, intellectual property, and subsidies policies.

Nevertheless, there is a glaring absence of a shared game plan for future transatlantic economic relations with China. Fortunately, a common perspective and the political will to achieve such a strategy may finally be at hand in both Brussels and Washington. If the European Union and the United States fail to seize this opportunity, they may long regret it.