EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic held two days of talks with Chinese officials in Beijing to address a widening trade deficit and concerns over unfair competition, particularly in sectors such as automobiles, machinery, and rare earths. Analysts expressed measured expectations for the outcome, while the European Commission continued developing new trade defence instruments to be presented in December.
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On Thursday, 8 October, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic arrived in Beijing for a two-day schedule of talks with Chinese counterparts aimed at easing bilateral trade tensions. Trade friction between the European Union and Beijing has deepened, with Brussels tightening its approach to address what it regards as an uneven competitive environment across industries that include the automotive sector.
Voices from European governments and policy circles have begun invoking the phrase "China Shock 2.0" to characterise a perceived shift by Chinese manufacturers toward advanced, technology-intensive production — a transition that analysts say is placing pressure on a range of established EU industries. During the early 2000s, an influx of lower-cost goods from China — many of them at the less technologically advanced end of the market — put manufacturing sectors under pressure across Europe and in other parts of the world.
Negotiations between EU and Chinese representatives, under way since June, have centred on resolving what Brussels has identified as an imbalance in bilateral trade flows. Alongside plans to expand its trade defence toolkit, the EU faces the prospect of countermeasures from Beijing should any steps taken prove directed at China.
At summer meetings, Šefčovič told the EU that concrete outcomes needed to materialise by October. Penny Naas, who directs the Brussels office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States think tank, told reporters that while the talks might yield modest results, the prospect of any substantial progress appeared unlikely.
Zhu Tian, an economics professor at Shanghai's China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), put forward the view that targeted deals on discrete issues were a more plausible near-term outcome than any sweeping overhaul of the broader trade relationship.
Alongside that effort, a separate set of instruments aimed at shielding European industries from outside pressures has been taking shape within the commission, with a formal unveiling before member-state leaders pencilled in for December. Trade between the EU and China ran heavily in Beijing's favour during 2025, with the bloc's purchases from China outpacing its sales there by roughly €360 billion (around US$404 billion). At roughly US$292 billion, the gap on the Chinese side sits below that of other parties, though officials there anticipate the shortfall will widen in the period ahead.
Machinery, textiles, basic metals, and chemicals were among the product areas where import volumes had climbed to levels Denis Redonnet, the EU's trade enforcement chief, described as both persistent and outside normal bounds. Redonnet told the European Parliament that goods arriving from China were the primary factor behind patterns of concern affecting roughly one in four of all products currently entering the EU.
Three priorities shaped the EU's position as outlined by Šefčovič: curbing the flow of goods from China that were arriving in excess of normal trade volumes, opening wider channels for European goods heading into the Chinese market, and putting in place a licensing framework covering rare earths and related materials after Beijing moved to restrict their supply. A statement from China's trade authorities made clear their opposition to any restrictions placed on incoming goods through quota mechanisms.
Subdued consumer spending at home narrows the policy options available to Chinese authorities, leaving export activity to carry much of the burden of sustaining economic output. A number of EU member states, France among them, have backed calls for a trade instrument at the European level modelled on Section 301 — a US mechanism that allows authorities to investigate foreign commercial practices considered discriminatory and respond with tariff measures.
In response to accounts of such a tool, Chinese authorities stated they would take firm countermeasures against what they described as "discriminatory restrictive measures." Tariffs placed on European cognac stood among the countermeasures Beijing had deployed in response to EU trade defence actions, alongside formal anti-dumping investigations opened into pork and dairy imports.
A financial support instrument aimed at helping businesses spread their sourcing across a wider range of suppliers is also taking shape within the European Union's policy apparatus. Germany's commercial ties to China run considerably deeper than those of most European neighbours, a dynamic that has long encouraged measured restraint among policymakers — though that posture has been adjusting as growing volumes of Chinese manufactured goods place mounting strain on industries that the country's economy depends on for exports.