DistantNews
Support us
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Economy & Trade

EU trade chief says dialogue with China has never been this intense

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said contacts with China had reached an unprecedented level of intensity and called for tangible results by October.
  • The EU wants to rebalance market access and address a €360 billion trade deficit, which Sefcovic said placed a heavy burden on the European economy.
  • Germany backed expanding the EU’s trade-policy tools as Brussels continued negotiations with China and the United States.

The European Union says its trade dialogue with China has gained momentum over the summer, but it wants concrete results within weeks. Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said contacts with Beijing had never been so intense and called for “tangible results” by October.

Sefcovic said he would speak next week with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and was preparing to visit Beijing in October for an in-person meeting. It would be the second regular meeting under a dialogue mechanism launched by both sides in June.

I am pleased to report that momentum has been building throughout the summer. We have never had such intense interaction with our Chinese counterparts.

· Maros SefcovicHis description of the EU’s recent contacts with China.

The central dispute is market access. Sefcovic said the EU wanted to reverse the declining presence of European companies in China while addressing the growing presence of Chinese companies in Europe. He also called for ways to deal with rising Chinese exports to the EU, pointing to a €360 billion trade deficit that he described as excessive and a major burden on the European economy.

tangible results

· Maros SefcovicHis demand for progress in the EU-China negotiations by October.

European leaders are expected to reassess relations with China in October. Sefcovic also discussed trade with the United States, saying Brussels had chosen negotiation rather than confrontation in response to the tariff challenge from Donald Trump’s administration. An agreement limiting tariffs to 15% had helped minimize the damage, he said, while talks on steel and other metal products continued.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul supported the European Commission’s efforts to expand its trade-policy tools. He said European companies could not be left to bear the cost as China acted “increasingly assertively” to advance its economic interests. Both officials praised free-trade agreements as a way to make the EU more competitive and attractive, while Wadephul said they also offered political benefits as multilateralism faced global pressure.

increasingly assertively

· Johann WadephulHis description of China’s approach to advancing its economic interests.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog