As they head to the Swiss Alps for this year’s World Economic Forum, EU leaders are anxious over Trump’s trade saber-rattling and their China-reliant economies.

EU, German and Chinese leaders took turns defending global cooperation in Davos on Tuesday as the spectre of new trade wars looms following Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Trump, who will be inaugurated next week, has threatened the EU with tariffs and his team has criticized the bloc for being weak on China. The manner in which the EU handles the dispute will present an early test of how the world approaches trade under the new administration in Washington and the resilience of the transatlantic relationship.

In 2017, weeks after Donald Trump’s first presidential election victory, Xi Jinping became the first Chinese head of state to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — winning applause as he inveighed against protectionism and declared that a trade war would hurt both sides.