The European Union and China are increasingly close to a trade war. The EU’s trade deficit with Beijing has deepened and reached a record level. The European Union spends three times more money on important products from China than China spends on imports from the community bloc, reports The Guardian. To correct this imbalance, the European Commission is considering imposing quotas on hybrid cars, a measure that will most likely provoke Beijing’s fury.
The centralized data from customs shows that the trade deficit between the EU and China exceeded one billion euros per day, in July 2026.
The figures come just a few days after the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that the trade imbalance must be stopped, and ahead of the summit between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, which will take place on Thursday, in Washington.
Record trade deficit
The Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) conveyed: “The problem is no longer simply that the EU is buying more goods from China. China is selling more to Europe, while buying less from it.”
China and the EU are negotiating to avoid a trade war, and the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, will travel to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart on October 8.
“Considering that the bilateral deficit now exceeds one billion euros per day, the growing imbalance will almost certainly be one of the main topics on the agenda of the EU-China meeting scheduled for October“, Merics conveyed.
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