China’s exports surged 36.3% in September from a year earlier, its customs agency said Wednesday. Imports climbed 31%. The result: a $133.5 billion trade surplus for the month, up from $119.1 billion in August. Brussels is alarmed. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the EU’s goods deficit with China “unsustainable” and promised the bloc would use every possible means to reduce it.
The figures behind the alarm are large. The EU’s goods deficit with China hit €360 billion ($402 billion) last year and reached €200 billion in the first six months of 2026. Trade deficits span machinery, textiles, basic metals, chemicals and cars.
Goods Cross, People Don’t
The Commission’s language deserves a close reading. “Every possible means.” That’s the vocabulary of an institution that treats the movement of goods as a problem to manage with all available tools. The EU executive has shifted its focus away from improving European companies’ access to Chinese markets and toward allowing China to sell less into the bloc. It’s a turn from opening to closing.
The base reporting says nothing about how the bloc treats people who arrive, rather than containers. It doesn’t need to. The same Commission that will deploy every possible means against a trade imbalance has never said it would use every possible means to guarantee a safe, legal route for someone fleeing war. Capital and commodities are discussed in terms of access and rebalancing. Human beings, when they’re discussed at all, are discussed in terms of control.
Rebalancing Is Already Under Way
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic called last week’s EU-China deal on hybrid car imports a “very good result,” but cautioned that it was only a first step in the wider process of rebalancing. He met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. The deal came about one week ago.
A senior Commission official said on Monday that dialogue alone was unlikely to complete the job. The Commission is likely to propose its first further measure in December. The official didn’t specify what the measure would be.
The pressure comes from China’s partners generally, not just Brussels. Customs data shows exports of high-tech goods such as semiconductors and autos helped fuel the surge in overseas shipments. European governments have long described those sectors as strategic.
Who Gets Protection, and From What
The sequence is plain. A €360 billion annual deficit triggers a promise of “every possible means.” Within days of a ministerial meeting in Beijing, officials announce a preliminary deal on hybrid cars. A further measure is scheduled for December. The institutional machinery moves quickly when manufacturing and market share are at stake.
That speed reflects a choice about priorities. The EU has shown it can mobilise its negotiators, its Commissioner and its President around a single trade figure. The data in this story concerns exports, imports and surpluses. It says nothing about the people who make the goods or those the bloc turns away at its own frontiers. What the Commission counts, and what it doesn’t, tells its own story about where Europe locates urgency.