A success likely to solve business friction at the European Union-China summit of this week in Beijing appears thin after China cuts two days of talks in a single day.
The summit was set to mark the 50th anniversary of the European Union Union-China diplomatic relations, which Chinese President Xi Jinping had gone from Brussels to Beijing after Jinping, rejected the invitation to participate. European Commission Chairman Ursula von Der Leyen and European Council Chairman Antonio Costa will now meet Xi in the Chinese capital on Thursday.
“This is another sign of Beijing’s limited desire and the ambition to connect with Europeans,” Elixa Bachulaska, Asia Program’s Policy Fellow The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) told DW. Bachuluska Said that Chinese clans often saw the European Union as a Middlewell power with limited advantages in trade talks.
European Union complaints fall on deaf ears
The European Union’s € 400 billion ($ 467 billion) is running a trade deficit dispute with China, fuel from restricted access to the Chinese market for European Union producers. China’s industrial policies are in favor of domestic suppliers, which benefit from heavy subsidy, access to government contracts and favorable rules.
European Union officials say thesis policies have caused a significant overflow for the “dumping” of Chep Chinese electric vehicles (EVS) in the European Union market, causing damage to the domestic auto sector.
“The measure of China’s economy – the measure of subsidy, extremeness and government intervention – is very immense,” Bachaulska said, “without action” to protect Europe “, the Risk of the European Union” partially D -Industrailization “within a few years.
The European Union has implemented Tarrafs of 45% on Chinese EVS and demanded overcapacea and mutual market access to ensure a level sports ground for European Union exporters.
Meanwhile, China wants to replace Evo taffs with other concessions along with other concessions.
In April, concerns about China’s trade practices led to the European Union to create an import monitoring task force to help protect the internal market of the block, which could trigger anti-dumping duty or other security measures of the European Union.
The Task Force immediately noted the European Union at an 8.2% increase in exports to the European Union in April, compared to a single month in 2024, which it attributed to Chinese exporters to export us to the European Union, avoiding Trump’s high praise.
China refuses to give unfair to domestic manufacturers and accuses the European Union of protectionism. Beijing is in favor of local producers citing the needs of national security and economic development.
European Union firms disappointed China’s rare earth
To secure significant access to the Chinese market with European Union negotiaters, China’s chokehold on rare earth minerals, which are essential for clean technology, chipmaking and medical devices, is another major point of controversy.
According to the European Commission, the European Union depends on China for 98% of the rare earth magnets with 98% of its rare Earth supply.
China introduced curb on rare earth exports last year, delaying and production steps in the supply chain for the European Union firms. Subsequently, the value of rare earth shipments in the European Union fell 84%to $ 15.1 million (€ 12.9 million), according to Chinese customs data, according to Chinese customs data.
At the June Summit of June in Canada, Leyen accused China on Karbas on “forced” and “blackmail”, saying that “any country should not control 80–90% of the market for a downstream products such as the necessary raw materials and magnets.”
The Chinese government has rejected criticism. Last week, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs suggested that the “mentality” of the European Union needs to be “unbalanced”.
Although European Trade Commissioner Maros Sephakovic interacted in reducing export control to rare Earth in June, “Green Channels” for some European Union manufacturers allowed “Green Channels”, reports of several firms that approval is a very slow chain.
With “Trust Lack”, a senior partner at Spain’s Elkano Royal Institute, Mario Estaban, looks at the European Union-China relations with a very low probability for improvement.
“One side is hoping that the other would remove some obstacles from the last 18 months,” Estaban told DW. “This summit is not about a deep commitment between the European Union and China, but is just trying to remove some of these obstacles.”
The European Union, hence China is an anti-economic means for monitoring the so-called economic coercion in the form of minerals of China. Now the calls are increasing for European policy makers to take a hard line on Beijing, including taffs, prokurement ban, or other measures.
“We need to pursue the message that Europe will be fragrant and we have tools, search as anti-karsian instruments, if it comes to push,” Bakulaska said. “But they need to use political will.”
Fresh Russia Ban IRK Beijing
China in Russia’s ongoing Russia claimed that Ukraine was in Ukraine, so there remains a flashpoint for Brussels, which sees it as a taset support for Moscow.
The 18th package of the European Union against Russia adopted last week, targeted Chinese companies and first, two Chinese regional banks accused of supporting Russia’s sanctions through cryptocurrency services. Brussels alleged that thesis firms supplied double-hearted goods as a citizen, but used in Russia’s military applications.
Beijing threatened the counter-protest and condemned the sanctions on the basis of “trump-up allegations”.
“For the first time, European indicated that they are ready to put serious pressure on the Chinese side,” DW reported in Andrew Small, Senior Fellow, Indo-Pacific program, in the German Martial Fund of the United States (GMF). “Financial restrictions, targeting banks – these are those who worry [China],
China’s trump crisis
Some European Union observers saw the tariff of US President Donald Trump, who helped decades as an opportunity for the European Union to reset relationships with the world’s second largest economy. Facing great disruption to its American trade, they say that China needs Europe and more Europe is needed and can be pushed to give concessions during Thursday’s summit.
“I think the sound of thesis is very naive,” said Bachhulska. “China has won the first round of trade war with the US, and a strong feeling in Beijing in a conversation with the European Union.”
Eventually, Xi is transferring China’s economy from quantity-powered growth, which he said “high-quality development”, new techniques, domestic demand, security and priority to the environment.
China is already challenging the technical dominance of the West, including artificial intelligence, super computing and EV production. In some cases, like 6G communication, it has crossed the West.
Some analyzes say that the European Union continues to reduce the economic threat from China and has failed to adopt a tough approach to combat some unfair trade practice of the country.
“Europe has a tendency to bypass issues related to China because we have a lot of things on our plates,” Bachulska said, referring to the European Union trade dispute with Ukraine War and Trump. “China is just a geographically distant challenge … [but] Many effects of Chinese policies are being felt in Europe. ,
Edited by: Uwe Hessler
Note the editor: This article was first published on 15 July 2025 and updated to reflect the latest development on 22 July.
