Spain’s Sanchez urges China to take greater global responsibility

Pedro Sanchez used a stop at Tsinghua University to press China to shoulder more responsibility in global affairs, casting the message as both a diplomatic appeal and a response to Spain’s widening trade imbalance with Beijing.

The Spanish prime minister said China should do more on climate change, security, defense and the fight against inequality, while also arguing that Europe needed to strengthen its own efforts as the United States pulled back from leadership roles on several fronts. He was speaking during a four-day visit to China that ran from April 11 to 15, and the trip was expected to bring him face to face with Xi Jinping on Tuesday, along with meetings with Premier Li Qiang and top legislator Zhao Leji.

The politics of the visit were inseparable from the economics. Sanchez said China accounted for 74% of Spain’s trade deficit, and Reuters reported that Spain’s deficit with China had more than doubled over four years to nearly $50 billion in 2025. He called the imbalance unsustainable and pressed Beijing to open its market more fully to European imports, a signal that Madrid wants stronger access for Spanish agricultural and manufacturing exports as much as it wants diplomatic influence.

The trip also reflected how unusually close the bilateral relationship has become. Sanchez has now visited China four times in four years, with previous trips in March 2023, September 2024 and April 2025. King Felipe VI’s state visit to China in November 2025 was the first by a Spanish monarch in 18 years, underscoring the extent to which both governments have elevated the relationship.

China’s foreign ministry said the visit was intended to deepen strategic mutual trust and multilateral coordination. Chinese state media said bilateral goods trade exceeded $55 billion in 2025 and described China as Spain’s largest trading partner outside the European Union. Mao Ning, the ministry’s spokesperson, said Beijing was willing to use the trip to push relations to a higher level.

The commercial stakes are rising alongside the diplomacy. EUobserver reported that Chinese firms invested €643 million in Spain in 2025, up from €149 million a year earlier, lifting total Chinese investment in Spain to more than €9.7 billion between 2010 and 2025. One of the largest projects under way is a €4.1 billion CATL-Stellantis battery plant in Zaragoza. At the same time, the European Union’s trade deficit with China reached €360 billion in 2025, showing Spain’s complaints were part of a broader European problem.

Some Spanish business leaders worried that focusing the Xi meeting on geopolitics could complicate trade at a moment when the United States remains Spain’s leading foreign investor. Even so, Sanchez’s message was clear: Spain wants China treated not just as a competitor, but as a partner whose cooperation matters on climate, technology, health and conflict resolution.