China rebuts EU trade claims

China’s state news agency Xinhua on April 18 rejected European claims that trade with China is “imbalanced,” arguing the European Union is reading the numbers too narrowly. (english.news.cn) The immediate backdrop is a large goods gap: the European Commission says the European Union ran a €305.8 billion trade deficit in goods with China in 2024, after a €297 billion deficit in 2023 and a record €397.3 billion in 2022. (policy.trade.ec.europa.eu) Xinhua said that figure leaves out other parts of the relationship, including Europe’s services surplus with China and the role of Chinese parts and machinery inside European supply chains. It argued that lower-cost Chinese industrial inputs reduce costs for European manufacturers rather than simply displacing them. (english.news.cn) The dispute is no longer just rhetorical. Xinhua said European talk of “imbalance” has helped justify about 15 trade-remedy investigations, and it singled out calls in Europe for blanket tariffs of as much as 30% on Chinese goods. (english.news.cn) Brussels has already moved on one of the biggest cases. The European Commission imposed definitive countervailing duties on battery electric vehicles from China on October 30, 2024, saying Chinese subsidies threatened injury to European carmakers. (ec.europa.eu) The Commission’s public position is that the deficit reflects structural problems, not just consumer choice. On its China trade page, it says the European Union remains committed to dialogue but sees the World Trade Organization as the best route to address the “root causes” of the imbalance. (policy.trade.ec.europa.eu) Trade data show why the argument is hardening. Eurostat says the European Union’s goods deficit with China widened to €360 billion in 2025, and the biggest product groups in the two-way trade were electrical equipment and machinery and mechanical parts. (ec.europa.eu) Xinhua’s answer is that today’s deficit should be read against a longer timeline. It said the European Union ran a surplus with China for roughly two decades before 1996, when Europe was exporting more high-end equipment, cars, precision instruments and chemicals. (english.news.cn) The fight now is over what those numbers authorize policymakers to do next. Xinhua warned that if Europe keeps treating the deficit as proof of unfairness, it could lock itself into longer-term industrial policies aimed at Chinese exports rather than case-by-case trade disputes. (english.news.cn)