\n<\/p>\n
The back and forth shows how the new Brussels proposal, unveiled Tuesday, threatens to trigger retaliation from Beijing at a sensitive moment, as the EU also faces the possibility of a trade war with the U.S. over Greenland.<\/p>\n
But the EU push to block Chinese vendors could also help defuse tensions with Washington, which has urged European capitals to block Chinese vendors like Huawei for years. A new U.S. National Security Strategy released in December 2025<\/a> listed \u201cencouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity, technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices\u201d as one of seven priorities for U.S. policy in Europe.<\/p>\n Brussels’ new cyber bill is the latest in a wide-ranging series of initiatives by the EU to strengthen its \u201cstrategic autonomy\u201d in sensitive technologies and industries, and de-risk its economies from trade shocks and economic coercion.<\/p>\n Just hours before the bill was revealed, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen\u00a0told global leaders in Davos<\/a>\u00a0that Europe faces a \u201cnecessity to build a new form of European independence\u201d and needs to \u201cfix the structural dependencies we have\u201d \u2014 a comment directed both at Beijing and at Washington.<\/p>\n Under the cyber bill, the European Commission and EU capitals would name \u201ccountries of concern\u201d they deem a cyber threat in sectors including telecoms, renewable energy, electricity, water, cloud services and security services.<\/p>\n Though the draft legislation itself does not name any specific countries or companies, it is widely seen as targeting China. 5G suppliers Huawei and ZTE are in the EU’s immediate crosshairs, while other Chinese vendors are expected to be hit at a later stage. That could include airport scanner maker\u00a0Nuctech<\/a>, camera maker\u00a0Hikvision<\/a>, drone maker\u00a0DJI<\/a>\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n