economy
EU sets up three months of talks with China over €360bn trade deficit
Two sides agree to try to make bilateral relationship ‘more balanced’ after weeks of threats
TL;DR
- EU and China agreed to three months of talks to avoid a trade war over a €360bn annual trade imbalance.
- This joint statement is the first in seven years, following weeks of threats from China.
- The objective is to stabilize and make the bilateral relationship more balanced.
- Talks will cover rebalancing trade and investment, export controls, intellectual property rights, and WTO reforms.
- A joint monitoring mechanism will be established to identify sudden surges in trade and trigger political discussions.
- The EU is cautiously approaching the talks, having seen tariffs on EVs fail to curb imports.