Finbarr Bermingham
@fbermingham · Brussels · joined 08 Apr 2009
Irish journalist. Chief Europe Correspondent @SCMPnews. Reporting on Europe-China. Geopolitical flâneur. Fermanagh man. Find me on bluesky
31 698Followers
2 391Following
43 149Posts total
608.3KViews on collected posts
Latest posts
Looking for new posts…
For the next few weeks, you'll have to get your trade war news elsewhere.
I've my hands full with this wee man, Lochlann ☘️💚 https://t.co/iwAQGgEYxN
19.6K views · 668 likes
· 4 reposts · 76 replies
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Wow. New survey of 1,300 German companies on China:
• 83% of manufacturers face rising Chinese competition; 50% say pressure is strong/very strong
• 55% back tougher EU trade measures against China, even if they themselves suffer https://t.co/x56xf16AN1
16.3K views · 131 likes
· 57 reposts · 8 replies
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Mercedes' answer to the China shock 2.0: belt tightening for thee, but not for me... https://t.co/GJm5zD7dRD
5.7K views · 53 likes
· 7 reposts · 4 replies
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The EU's new director general for trade, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, confirms at EP she's off to China this month, following her top trade enforcer, who travels back from talks today
"We see an engaged China in these talks, but of course the challenges are very, very significant"
🧵 h
23.9K views · 50 likes
· 8 reposts · 3 replies
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Sefcovic:
“We need to have tangible results by October.”
He is due to speak with Wang Wentao in mid-September and travel to Beijing in early October, while EU negotiating teams are already in China.
Watch this space...
989 views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 0 replies
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Aug 31: Sefcovic tells Politico we need "tangible results" by October
He says Europe needs both increased EU exports to China and to “manage better the Chinese exports to the European Union”.
https://t.co/jEQCQUt0dY
5.3K views · 9 likes
· 2 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 28: Polish-China talks in Beijing
Polish deputy minister Baranowski on numbers:
€61bn in bilateral trade last year. Just €3.1bn was Polish exports.
“Poland is open to pragmatic economic cooperation with China - but it has to be built on reciprocity & level playing field” h
729 views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Matthias Bianchi of the German Association of the Mittelstand: "Companies remain concerned about possible Chinese retaliation. But in the meantime, doing nothing has also become a risk"
677 views · 8 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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BDI board member Wolfgang Niedermark:
“The situation is intensifying due to massive price pressure we face from Chinese suppliers.”
“Possible countermeasures by China must be included in strategic considerations, but should not determine or ultimately prevent Europe’s actions.”
685 views · 5 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 28: German biz shift evident
"We need to discuss with China what is happening. If it is confirmed this is attributable to subsidies or unfair competition, then it is an issue," said Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at German Chamber of Commerce
https://t.co/1o01hRcnOZ
728 views · 6 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 27: VDL at French biz forum
“Dialogue with China remains necessary. But it must produce results”
“And when dialogue is not enough, we must be ready to make full use of our instruments.”
“Being a partner does not mean accepting permanent imbalances”
https://t.co/OZmyF6CNDz
785 views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Klingbeil: "But also about how we face competition, especially increasingly unfair competition we are experiencing. Therefore, we agreed – the Chancellor confirmed this – that we will discuss appropriate measures in the cabinet soon. I found yesterday's debate very constructive"
784 views · 7 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Klingbeil:
"The issue now is protecting the steel industry, the automotive industry, the chemical industry, and the pharmaceutical industry, both in Germany and in Europe. We had a very serious debate about where we need to improve in order to reposition ourselves economically"
789 views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Klingbeil notes industries to protect:
Klingbeil: "I am firmly convinced we must protect our domestic economy and industry. I am in favor of free trade... Germany, must insist on a rules-based order. But when we see others are not playing by the rules, we cannot be naive." https
798 views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 26: Merz seemingly on board with tougher EU action. The one that matters
Merz, post-cabinet retreat: “We note that German industry has also apparently changed its opinion regarding these global imbalances. We will not only address this issue, but we will make decisions” http
851 views · 10 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Fico, after meeting Antonio Costa:
"I have a different view about relations between EU-China. I don't think we should fight China by putting up barriers and treating it as an enemy... China is a country with which we should compete in a friendly spirit and strive to do better."
854 views · 5 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 25: but the EU is not united
Slovak PM Robert Fico pushes in the opposite direction.
“I don't think we should fight China by putting up barriers and treating it as an enemy.”
Instead, he calls for “friendly” competition. https://t.co/zpJzbaZ5tV
920 views · 6 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Follow up post on LinkedIn from Dutch trade minister Sjoerdma
During my trip to China, I discussed our economic relationship with China in Joint Economic Committee. This involved both opportunities & risks. We must work together where possible, but also protect our own interests
989 views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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The WRR warns that without action “more and more sectors in Europe will disappear”.
Its conclusion is stark: measures may hurt initially, but “doing nothing is ultimately more painful”
https://t.co/qjPBpzKokd
1K views · 12 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 25: Netherlands
The Dutch government’s WRR advisory council argues Europe should take a tougher China stance even if there is an economic cost.
Its argument: delay makes Europe weaker.
“If we don't intervene now, it will be too late later.”
https://t.co/RiyNPYmvtp
1.1K views · 15 likes
· 1 reposts · 2 replies
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Aug 24: the scale of possible EU action
Goldman Sachs estimates existing and proposed EU trade measures could cover around 27% of China’s exports to the bloc.
It warns broader restrictions could threaten China’s European market-share gains.
https://t.co/UGCpbmc60v
2.1K views · 10 likes
· 1 reposts · 1 replies
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Aug 20: Germany
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil says China is “not playing by the rules”, citing:
“Overcapacity, state subsidies, joint venture obligations.”
He backs “a firmer stance toward China” and says Merz now does too.
https://t.co/KUw2lOwJhq
1.9K views · 9 likes
· 1 reposts · 2 replies
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I've been off for a bit so am catching up on EU-China trade war - here's what we missed:
A negotiating team led by Denis Redonnet is in Beijing this morning for talks with Ling Ji at Mofcom. Online talks through Aug delivered no major breakthroughs
A timeline of what changed:
11.9K views · 96 likes
· 26 reposts · 2 replies
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@fbermingham EU have been allowed to talk too much cock.
Now lets see how China turn those dogs into slaves
1.4K views · 37 likes
· 0 reposts · 2 replies
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Back in Brussels, the October deadline is not seen as an end point for tensions with China, rather the beginning of a new stage – and a test for whether Europe’s dialogue-first approach survives contact with Beijing’s escalation.
6.2K views · 27 likes
· 3 reposts · 4 replies
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September will see a visit of the EU’s top trade enforcer Denis Redonnet to the Chinese capital, followed by Sefcovic’s own trip, planned for early October. The EU’s national leaders are then set to discuss the China shock again in October and December.
6.1K views · 24 likes
· 2 reposts · 1 replies
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Working-level talks will continue in August, even as most EU officials leave Belgium for their summer holidays, with the level of negotiations to pick up in September – even if expectations are managed in Europe as to how much ground China is ready to yield.
8.4K views · 25 likes
· 2 reposts · 1 replies
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Crucially, the move shows that Beijing is willing to exploit its economic chokepoints to cow its opponents, a trait that is the envy of some European bureaucrats.
5.7K views · 30 likes
· 2 reposts · 1 replies
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As of Thursday, the European Commission was still awaiting an explanation from Beijing. There are fears that the move could hamper the bloc’s rearmament efforts, as well as its plans to provide military support for Ukraine.
5.8K views · 30 likes
· 3 reposts · 1 replies
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Against accounts of the same size
55 posts from the last 90 days, next to the 10K–100K follower range. shown widely, but few of those viewers react.
Median views6 546this account990median for 10K–100K
Reach, %20.65%this account3.66%median for 10K–100K
Engagement, %0.64%this account1.61%median for 10K–100K
| Metric | This account | Median for 10K–100K | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median views per post | 6 546 | 990 | 6.61× |
| Reach (views ÷ followers) | 20.65% | 3.66% | 5.64× |
| Engagement rate | 0.64% | 1.61% | 0.40× |
Others in this range → Compare with another account → How these benchmarks are built →
Growth & engagement
How the posts we collected actually performed: views and reaction rate post by post, what the audience did with them, and where the follower count goes.
Views per post
7891 Sep
784
785
728
685
677
729
5.3K
989
259
23.9K2 Sep
5.7K
16.3K3 Sep
19.6K7 Sep
Last 14 collected posts, oldest on the left. The scale is logarithmic: one post can outrun the rest a hundred times over.
Engagement rate per post
1.39%1 Sep
1.15%
1.40%
1.10%
1.02%
1.48%
1.51%
0.22%
1.01%
0.00%
0.26%2 Sep
1.12%
1.20%3 Sep
3.81%7 Sep
Reactions — likes, reposts, replies and quotes — divided by views. Median for 10K–100K accounts is 1.61%.
What the audience does
Likes73.5%1 327 in total
Reposts7.4%133 in total
Replies6.8%122 in total
Bookmarks12.4%224 in total
Share of every reaction we collected for this account. Replies mean argument, reposts mean endorsement, bookmarks mean the post was worth keeping.
The follower curve appears once this account has two daily snapshots — we take one a day, and this one is on its first.
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