EU's Sefcovic to China: Deficit 'Unsustainable' — SkimNews
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- Maros Sefcovic began two days of talks in Beijing on Oct 8, calling the EU's trade deficit with China "unsustainable" and saying his goal was to "rebalance" it through improved market access and economic security.
- China exported roughly €1 billion ($1.1 billion) more in goods and services to the EU per day than it imported last year, per European figures cited in the report.
- Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz sent a joint letter calling for a "credible instrument" that would let the European Commission respond to trade aggression "within days," to be debated at an EU leaders' summit next week.
- China's commerce ministry warned Paris and Berlin against "protectionist" measures, urging them to "avoid going down the wrong path in the wrong way."
- Sefcovic set three negotiation priorities: curbing surging imports in strategic sectors, boosting European exports to China, and securing clearer export-licensing for rare earths after Beijing imposed restrictions last year.
- EU parliament trade committee chair Bernd Lange argued China's "economic crisis" gives the bloc "bargaining power" and called for consistent use of EU anti-subsidy and anti-dumping tools.
- Analysts from Bruegel and Shanghai's China Europe International Business School said a broad deal this week is unlikely, but a sector-specific export-restraint agreement could be a feasible first step.
Why it matters: The EU runs a roughly €1 billion-per-day trade gap with China, and Beijing can throttle rare-earth supplies vital to European industry — leverage Sefcovic is explicitly trying to unlock. With France and Germany's fast-response counter-trade weapon heading to next week's EU summit, a failed outcome in Beijing would hand hawks in both capitals the very escalation tool the talks are designed to prevent.
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