EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Bloomberg that China is the country that stands to benefit the most from a trade war between the U.S. and EU. Her comments come as the EU imposed 50% tariffs on American whiskey in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Senior members of the European Union’s executive arm and US officials spoke on Friday to explore ways to move forward after US President Donald Trump’s metals tariffs prompted a trade war.

A full-scale global trade war would hurt the United States in particular and could re-energise Europe's push towards unity, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday.