Chinese leader met Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, who also promoted closer ties with Beijing.

Chinese ruler Xi Jinping proposed the EU and Beijing work together to resist Donald Trump as the U.S. president wages a global trade war.

“China and the EU must fulfill their international responsibilities, jointly safeguard the trend of economic globalization and a fair international trade environment, and jointly resist unilateral and intimidating practices,” Xi said during a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in the Chinese capital.

Washington and Beijing have been involved in an escalating tit-for-tat tariff spat, which saw China on Friday morning raise levies on American imports to 125 percent, in response to ever-heightening U.S. tariffs.

While Trump has issued a pause on his most severe tariff regime for other countries around the world ― including the EU ― China is looking for partners to help it counter immense trade pressure coming from the White House.

Sánchez echoed Xi’s call for closer ties between the EU and the Asian superpower at a moment when the world is facing “extraordinary challenges.”

“The complex global landscape makes it necessary for us to bet on more dialogue, cooperation, and a strengthening of our relations with other countries and regional blocs,” Sánchez said, in a veiled reference to Trump’s global trade war.

“China is a fundamental partner for us when it comes to facing the world’s greatest challenges,” he added. “Climate change, global development, the fight against inequality … All key issues for us.”

The Spanish prime minister’s Beijing pilgrimage has triggered Washington, where U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week compared Madrid’s attempts to forge closer trade relations with China with “cutting [one’s ] own throat.”

Sánchez insisted that “Spain’s foreign policy does not go against anyone,” adding that his country was determined to play an “active” role in fostering “mutually beneficial” transatlantic relations. But it was easy to see his repeated advocacy of “fair play in international commerce” as a criticism of Trump’s recent punitive trade measures.