EU lawmakers press Beijing to curb exports during Beijing visit

A delegation of European lawmakers has warned China that its export-driven economic model is unsustainable for Europe, pressing for wider limits on cheap imports during a visit to Beijing. The group of 12 members of the European Parliament said the recent deal on Chinese hybrid car exports should be treated as a starting point rather than a one-off arrangement. They argued that similar measures should be extended to other industrial sectors.

The warning came as the European Union's trade deficit with China reached a record €360 billion and continued to widen. German Socialist MEP Bernd Lange, who chairs the European Parliament's trade committee, said the recent Trade and Investment Consultations agreement on hybrid car imports was a useful first step in stabilising fair trade. He added that European lawmakers had made clear to their Chinese counterparts that they expected more sectors to follow the same approach in future.

French liberal MEP Pascal Canfin, the standing rapporteur on trade relations with China, said the Chinese export model was not sustainable for the EU. Under the October deal, the EU will introduce country-specific quotas allowing 350,000 Chinese hybrid cars onto the European market each year for four years, with a fixed annual adjustment rate of 6%. The lawmakers said restricting hybrid car imports alone would do little to reverse the broader trade imbalance.

The issue was discussed during a meeting between the delegation and Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao, as Beijing's export sector remains central to its industrial strategy. The talks come at a sensitive moment in EU-China trade relations, with Brussels under pressure to respond to low-cost imports that European officials say are affecting jobs and industry. EU leaders mandated the European Commission at a summit earlier this month to consider unilateral quotas and tariffs on imports of chemicals and industrial machinery, two sectors they say are also exposed to Chinese competition.

The Commission is also working on a mechanism described as a kill-switch that could restrict China's access to the single market if market distortions arise from economic pressure. Negotiations between the two sides are expected to continue until at least March 2027, when EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is due to meet Wang again. That suggests the current dispute is likely to remain part of a longer effort to rebalance trade rather than a single round of talks.

The lawmakers also said the EU is continuing product-by-product investigations into what it sees as unfair Chinese trade practices. What remains unclear is how far Beijing is prepared to go beyond the hybrid car deal, and whether the wider sectors named by EU officials will face new limits in the months ahead.

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