Europe’s goods trade deficit with China exceeds €1 billion a day. That’s the figure Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is taking to Beijing this week, where he’ll meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Thursday and Friday. The EU says the imbalance threatens industry and many thousands of jobs.
Sefcovic has said he wants “tangible results” by October and some form of commitment to present to EU leaders when they gather in Brussels on October 15-16. China trade relations top the summit agenda. His Beijing trip follows three months of discussions about the deficit and Chinese restrictions on exports of rare earths and other critical minerals.
The Pressure Builds
Brussels has taken a harder tone. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament last month that the trade imbalance had reached a tipping point, and Europe would use all tools at its disposal to rebalance the relationship. In September, G20 finance leaders, excluding China’s representatives, agreed to act against “non-market” distortions that worsen imbalances.
Beijing isn’t buying that framing. It says that highlighting economic imbalances and overcapacity amounts to protectionism, designed to pressure and restrict China.
What the Commission Wants
EU trade officials want China to open its market further to European companies. They say that alone won’t be enough. The Commission is also pressing China to cap some exports, but it’s unclear which products Beijing might agree to curb.
The Commission’s chief trade enforcement officer said last week that nearly a quarter of all imports were rising at a worrying rate, with abnormal increases in machinery, textiles, basic metals and chemicals. This isn’t a niche problem. It reaches across the industrial base.
The Car Question
Cars are where anxiety runs highest. Imports of plug-in hybrids into the EU rose 86% in the year to September, while prices fell 20%. Imports of battery electric vehicles rose 40%. More than half of those vehicles came from China, despite EU tariffs on BEVs built there.
The figures suggest the existing tariff wall has leaks. Plug-in hybrids and electric cars are arriving in growing volumes at falling prices, exactly the combination that squeezes European manufacturers and the jobs that depend on them.
Why This Matters:
The October 15-16 summit will test whether Europe can turn rhetoric into leverage. A deficit above €1 billion a day, rising car imports and Chinese limits on critical minerals affect industrial competitiveness, supply security and employment all at once. Member states must decide how far to back the Commission’s push, while the Commission must show leaders that any concessions from Beijing are concrete rather than cosmetic. For taxpayers and workers, the stakes are plain: if the imbalance continues unchecked, European factories and the communities built around them will bear the cost. Brussels will be judged on results, not on the toughness of its language.