Chinese language President Xi Jinping (Third-L) speaks with President of the European Fee Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council Antonio Costa and Excessive Consultant for International Affairs and Safety Coverage and Vice-President of the European Fee Kaja Kallas, in the course of the opening remarks of the twenty fifth European Union – China Summit on the Nice Corridor of the Folks in Beijing on July 24, 2025.
Andres Martinez Casares | Afp | Getty Photographs
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday referred to as for the bloc’s commerce relationship with China to turn out to be extra balanced as tensions brew between the 2 events.
“For commerce to stay mutual helpful it should turn out to be extra balanced,” she mentioned, talking at a press convention on the twenty fifth EU-China summit. Von der Leyen pointed to the EU’s rising commerce deficit with China.
“Europe welcomes competitors, we like competitors, however competitors needs to be honest,” she mentioned.
Von der Leyen advised reporters there have been three key areas the EU had flagged to Chinese language officers, together with overcapacity. Backed manufacturing doesn’t match home demand in China, which finally impacts the EU market, she defined.
“We have to see progress on this situation as a result of with out progress, it will be very tough for the European Union to take care of its present stage of openness,” Von der Leyen warned, noting that Chinese language officers have been wanting into the difficulty.
The EU chief additionally flagged market entry and export controls on uncommon earths and everlasting magnets as points. All three of those points have lengthy been factors of rivalry between the EU and China, and have ceaselessly performed into commerce tensions between them.
The European Fee President had already struck a firmer tone going into the assembly, urging the Chinese language chief to deal with the rising commerce imbalance between the 2 main economies.
“We’ve got reached an inflection level. Rebalancing our bilateral relation is important,” she mentioned, in accordance with the official readout, stressing that each side wanted to “acknowledge respective considerations and are available ahead with actual options.”
In the course of the press convention in a while Thursday, Von der Leyen described the talks with Chinese language leaders as “very constructive and really pragmatic.”
In the meantime, Chinese language President Xi Jinping had vowed to deepen ties with the EU. Earlier within the day he described the bilateral relationship as “mutually helpful,” saying the ties have turn out to be all of the extra essential as geopolitical tensions mount globally.
“The extra extreme and complicated the worldwide scenario is, the extra China and the EU ought to strengthen communication, improve mutual belief, and deepen cooperation,” Xi advised the EU leaders, in accordance with a translation by CNBC.
Chinese language state media company Xinhua later reported that Xi additionally referred to as for variations between the companions to be managed correctly.
Mounting commerce tensions
Commerce tensions globally have taken centerstage this yr, with the EU-China relations strained by Beijing’s export of extra industrial provide amid weakening home demand.
The bloc, which China counts as its second-largest buying and selling accomplice, raised tariffs on Chinese language electrical autos final yr in an effort to guard its home trade, drawing Beijing to launch anti-dumping probes into European brandy, dairy and pork.
“What we’ve seen is a reiteration of each side’ respective positions,” mentioned Daniel Balazs, a analysis fellow at S. Rajaratnam College of Worldwide Research, highlighting the underlying variations within the two sides’ aims.
The EU needs “extra balanced financial ties” and for China to do extra in bringing Russia to the negotiating desk over the Ukraine battle, however Beijing seeks to reverse the EU’s restrictions on Chinese language companies and duties on its electrical autos, Balazs mentioned.
Earlier this month, Von der Leyen mentioned that China was “enabling Russia’s struggle financial system.”
Within the first half of this yr, China had a goods-trade surplus of almost $143 billion with the European Union, 21% greater than a yr earlier, in accordance with official customs knowledge.
Aside from commerce imbalances, clashes over restrictions on their companies working within the respective markets and China’s stance on the Ukraine struggle have been complicating relations between Beijing and Brussels.
Earlier this month, China’s finance ministry launched measures proscribing authorities procurement of medical gadgets from European corporations, after Brussels moved to curb Chinese language corporations from taking part in EU public tenders for medical gear.
European industries have been additionally hit by China’s curbs on rare-earth exports globally, which led to momentary manufacturing halts at a number of European carmakers. China has since moved to ease these restrictions, with some measures tailor-made particularly to expedite issuance of such export licenses to European companies.
Regardless of the comfort, the “weaponization of uncommon earth components left a deep mark on Europe,” geopolitics consultancy Eurasia Group mentioned, noting that officers in Brussels have been pissed off over Beijing’s actions and will search to speed up the bloc’s “de-risking” from China.
The high-stakes summit, initially scheduled to happen in Brussels, was moved to Beijing and was shortened from two days to at least one, in a what was broadly seen as one other signal of fragile EU-China ties.
Eurasia Group attributed the shortening of the summit to “hardening stances and mismatched expectations” between the 2 sides.
