EU presses China on trade imbalance as deindustrialisation fears grow
EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic met Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao in Brussels for talks dominated by a widening trade gap. China’s goods surplus with the bloc reached €360.6bn ($411bn) in 2025, up about 15% on the year, and Chinese-made electric vehicles now account for more than a tenth of EU car sales. “China’s exports to the EU keep rising, while our market share in China keeps shrinking,” Sefcovic said. “This trend is not sustainable.”
Brussels is no longer relying on rhetoric. It has imposed EV tariffs of up to 35.3%, is overhauling its Cyber Security Act to keep Chinese firms out of critical infrastructure, and is advancing an Industrial Accelerator Act that would favor EU-made goods in public procurement. A fresh round of customs charges and duty changes takes effect July 1.
The pressure reflects domestic strain as much as strategy: Volkswagen is planning roughly 100,000 job cuts, BMW is trimming headcount, and Mercedes-Benz has paused bonuses. European carmakers are squeezed between high energy costs and cheaper Chinese rivals, and the political appetite to protect industrial jobs is rising. Beijing has signaled it will not absorb the measures quietly — a Chinese state-linked account warned that China “is not afraid” of further deterioration — leaving room for retaliation that could hit European exporters reliant on the Chinese market.