BRUSSELS – The European Union, in a rare moment of clarity, is actually considering slapping some restrictions on Chinese imports. Finally! After years of virtue signaling and hamstringing their own industries with ridiculous regulations, the EU Commission is having a 'come to Jesus' meeting this Friday. They're worried – imagine that – about becoming economically enslaved to the Chinese Communist Party.

Apparently, these geniuses are just now figuring out that the 'China Shock 2.0' is a real thing. All those cheap electric cars and medical device parts flooding the market? Yeah, turns out they're not exactly helping European factories thrive. Who could have seen that coming? (Everyone with a brain, that's who.)

Each of the 27 member states has been ordered to cough up examples of how China is sticking its fingers in every pie, from trade to agriculture to even frickin' defense. Good luck with that, folks, because China's been playing 4D chess while the EU was busy arguing about pronoun usage.

The dirty secret is that Chinese goods are often up to 40% cheaper than the stuff made in Europe. Of course, they are! Thanks to cheap labor, minimal regulations, and a government that doesn't care about 'climate justice' or whatever woke nonsense the EU is obsessed with. So now, European businesses are getting crushed. Maybe it's time to try free markets and not printing money non-stop?

Some 'expert' from some Brussels think tank, Ignacio García Bercero, is suggesting quotas and tariffs. Groundbreaking stuff, really. He also says the EU needs to 'engage' with China. Right, because that's worked so well in the past. It's called the Stockholm Syndrome. Maybe try a little less engagement, a little more hardball.

The EU is threatening to dust off its 'anti-coercion instrument,' whatever that is, and maybe even look at the cybersecurity act 2.0. Sounds impressive, but it's probably too little, too late. They're also talking about a 'made in EU' law. Sounds great, but if everything 'made in EU' costs five times as much due to regulations, who's going to buy it?

Grzegorz Stec from the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) gets it. He says China isn't deliberately trying to destroy Europe, but that's exactly what's happening because they're focused on their survival. The EU needs to wake up and realize that China isn't playing by the same rules. It’s the long con!