Euronews exclusive: EU officials to travel to China as October deadline for trade rebalancing looms

A group of EU officials will travel to China in the coming days to advance trade talks, as Brussels seeks to narrow a record €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with Beijing, Euronews has learned.

The European Commission hopes the technical discussions will deliver “tangible” results by October, when EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is expected to travel to China.

However, talks launched by the Commission and Beijing in June have become strained in recent weeks after China barred companies from providing information to Brussels in investigations under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, the EU's rules aimed at preventing unfair subsidies from abroad.

“No organisation or individual may execute or assist in the execution of such improper extraterritorial jurisdiction measures,” China's Ministry of Justice said in a statement on 19 August, referring to the EU's ongoing investigation into Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com following its €2.5 billion bid for German electronics retailer Ceconomy.

The probe comes as an OECD report found earlier this year that China's subsidies to companies were up to eight times higher than those provided by OECD members. The EU is also facing a surge in cheap Chinese imports, putting growing pressure on European industry.

Brussels did not stop its investigations

Despite the current sensitive talks, Brussels did not stop its investigations into what it sees as unfair trade practices coming from China, opening several anti-dumping cases over the summer.

The Commission is under pressure from EU member states, which gave President Ursula von der Leyen a mandate at a summit last June to review the bloc's trade defence tools and pursue a dialogue with Beijing aimed at delivering concrete results.

The first step came a few weeks later, when Šefčovič met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, in Brussels for political talks that formally opened negotiations between the EU and China.

The two sides agreed to establish a joint monitoring mechanism to exchange data and track trade flows “with a view to improving transparency, enhancing mutual trust and managing trade frictions”, according to a statement.

Market access is high on the agenda. China accuses the EU of shutting its market to Chinese companies through new regulations, while EU member states are seeking greater access to China for European businesses.

Brussels also chose October as a deadline for a reason: it will mark the end of a one-year truce over China's exports of rare earths, following Beijing's decision to halt all exports during its trade war with the US.

For the EU, securing continued access to these critical minerals is crucial, as they are essential to the bloc's green technology, automotive and defence industries.