Multilateralism can be defined as unbiased trade and equal footing in foreign policy as well trade policy. One example of multilateralism is the United Nations, which is a way of allowing for multiple, more democratic and even distribution in trade and foreign policy. On the other hand, unilateralism is a tendency of a country to conduct themselves on their own, without consulting others.
Nowadays, there has been more divide between China and various European countries in their trade policy. This is allowing for the divergence of the economic and trade cooperation between China and various European countries. Prior to recent events, this has been more of a multilateral relationship. However, there is a more mixed relationship economically between China and Europe, along with not just economic but social values. This is very different from the United States, which is trying to take a more unilateral approach by trying to become more self-sufficient and decrease reliance on China in its economic reliance to Chinese manufacturing and relationships.
The United States policy and approach can be viewed more as unilateral in terms of trade policy, while for the European countries that have been long trading partners with China, such as Germany, this has been more of a switch recently from multilateral towards less reliance and economic policy.
References:
Johnson, K. (2020, June 25). How Europe Fell Out of Love With China. Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/25/china-europe-rival-strategic-competitor-huawei/
Thanks for your blog post, Ouarda. While the US has adopted a more unilateralist approach during the Trump administration, and also chose to abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, I think it may be too soon say that the US has abandoned multilateralism. For example, it is still a member of the World Trade Organization and demands that China play by the agreed international rules. But it’s also true that Europe is taking a different approach. Interestingly, the Europeans seem much more concerned by China’s violation of the Uighur’s human rights and their actions in Hong Kong. –Professor Wallerstein