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China abruptly cancels EU talks amid escalating trade tensions
🇬🇷 Greece /Economy & Trade

China abruptly cancels EU talks amid escalating trade tensions

From Kathimerini · () Greek

Translated from Greek, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • China has unexpectedly canceled two significant diplomatic meetings with the European Union, escalating tensions between the two trade powers.
  • The cancellations come amid a sharp increase in Chinese exports to the EU market and growing concerns over potential trade wars.
  • The EU has expressed that its growing trade deficit with China, nearing 1 billion euros daily, is unsustainable and may lead to new tariffs.

China has abruptly canceled two important diplomatic meetings with the European Union, signaling a further escalation of tensions between the two major trading blocs. The move follows a surge in Chinese exports to the EU and heightened concerns about a potential trade war.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Chinese officials called off two scheduled rounds of talks in Beijing: a ministerial-level meeting on digital issues and another involving the deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Service, Olof Skoog. The cancellations occurred at the last minute, with no official explanation provided by the Chinese side.

Two talks scheduled for this month were canceled at the last minute by the Chinese side.

— Source familiar with the developmentsDescribing the abrupt cancellation of diplomatic meetings.

Such actions are often used by both Beijing and Brussels to convey displeasure with the other's policies. Last year, the EU postponed a high-level meeting with Beijing, citing a lack of progress on trade disputes. This latest cancellation adds to a pattern of strained relations as the EU seeks to curb Chinese exports.

China has intensified efforts to prevent Brussels from adopting new measures targeting its exports, which rose 16.4% in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year. Chinese state media have openly warned of a "trade war." The EU, meanwhile, is pushing forward with legislation like the Industrial Acceleration Act, which could restrict Chinese companies' access to public tenders and acquisitions, and has revised its cybersecurity framework to exclude companies like Huawei from telecommunications networks.

The EU's growing trade deficit with China, now around 1 billion euros per day, is unsustainable.

— European CommissionCharacterizing the imbalance in trade between the EU and China.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Kathimerini in Greek. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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