EU demands 'concrete results' from China trade talks as deficit hits €1 billion a day

Talks in Beijing

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is in Beijing for a second round of the EU-China trade and investment consultation mechanism, which continues on Friday, 9 October. On Thursday he met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, after three months of intensive interactions with Chinese counterparts. Before that meeting he said he had heard directly from European companies operating in China, and he summed up his message in two priorities: more access to the Chinese market and greater economic security. La Razón describes the visit as focused on the trade deficit, market access and Chinese export tensions.

In a post on X late on Thursday, Šefčovič wrote:

We are working actively to rebalance trade relations.

He added that it was 'crucial' for this phase of the talks to produce concrete results, and he asked for results that are 'tangible'.

A deficit called unsustainable

Šefčovič described the trade relationship with China as unsustainable, a view Observador says he shares with several European leaders. The EU deficit with China has averaged around €1 billion a day since 2025, or about $1.12 billion according to the figures in the Deutsche Welle report. La Razón reports that the deficit reached €359.8 billion in 2025, 15.3% more than the year before. European companies complain of regulatory obstacles, unequal treatment in public procurement, localisation requirements and difficulty competing on equal terms with national firms. The EU Chamber of Commerce in China recently warned that the country is losing appeal as a consumer market while gaining weight as an industrial and export platform, which aggravates tensions with its partners.

Hybrids and rare earths

According to the Financial Times, cited by La Razón, China rejected a European request before the visit to restrict its hybrid vehicle exports to the bloc voluntarily. Brussels wanted to cap those exports at around 15% of the EU market, against more than a third at present, and is studying a safeguard that would set quotas and apply high tariffs on the volume above them. Separately, the European Parliament this week asked for an investigation into possible Chinese coercive conduct in rare earths. The EU wants to reduce its critical dependencies on China in raw materials such as rare earths, batteries, semiconductors, electric vehicles, biotechnology and information technologies.

Threats and warnings

Brussels has threatened protective trade measures if Beijing does not take concrete and significant steps to correct the imbalance. Beijing has answered in kind, saying it will respond firmly to any European initiative that penalises its companies or threatens its structural economic interests. Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, said before the visit that China's economic crisis gives the bloc a strong card in negotiations. Europe cannot risk angering Beijing, because China could restrict supplies of critical materials such as rare earths or limit European exports to its market.

What comes next

The second round of talks continues in Beijing on Friday, 9 October. The visit takes place a few days before a summit of EU heads of state and government, which is expected in mid-October.