China–Europe trade push

Europe’s fight with China on trade has widened from a few disputed products to a broader push to shield whole industries from a flood of imports. (ec.europa.eu) The European Union imported €559.4 billion of goods from China in 2025 and exported €199.6 billion, leaving a €359.8 billion goods deficit, according to Eurostat data published on April 10. Imports rose 6.4% from 2024 while exports fell 6.5%. (ec.europa.eu) Brussels has paired that widening gap with a faster use of trade defenses. The European Commission said it opened 33 new anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard investigations in 2024, the highest annual total since 2006. (policy.trade.ec.europa.eu) That shift is visible in the China cases that now dominate the politics. On October 29, 2024, the Commission imposed five-year countervailing duties on battery electric vehicles from China, with rates of 17.0% for BYD, 18.8% for Geely, 35.3% for SAIC and 7.8% for Tesla’s China-made cars. (ec.europa.eu) The argument in Europe is no longer only about one sector such as electric cars. Bruegel, a Brussels think tank, wrote on February 9 that case-by-case tools are “slow,” “resource-intensive” and too narrow for what it called an economy-wide “China shock.” (bruegel.org) That language reflects a bigger change in how officials describe the problem. The Commission’s 2024 trade-defence report said imports are hitting European producers across sectors, and more than a third of the new investigations opened that year were in chemicals, not just metals or autos. (eur-lex.europa.eu) The new cases also reach beyond goods stamped “Made in China.” On April 15, the Commission imposed anti-dumping duties of 11% to 25.4% on glass fibre made by Chinese-owned producers in Egypt, Bahrain and Thailand after concluding the products were being routed through third countries. (euronews.com) By 2024, glass fibre imports from those three countries accounted for 24% of the European Union market, with Egypt alone at 18%, according to Euronews’ reporting on the Commission case. Industry group Glass Fibre Europe said the duties were a signal, but “remain insufficient” to stop what it described as predatory strategies. (euronews.com) Some policy voices in Europe now want a far broader response. Table.Media reported on February 10 that France’s Haut-Commissariat à la Stratégie et au Plan argued existing European measures were not enough and called for a 30% tariff on Chinese imports. (table.media) China rejects the European case that its export surge justifies wider barriers, and the Commission has said it remains open to World Trade Organization-compatible alternatives such as price undertakings with individual exporters. But with the deficit still widening and new investigations piling up, Europe’s trade debate is moving from fixing single cases to redesigning the rules. (ec.europa.eu)