The EU studies imposing quotas on Chinese exports of chemicals and machinery to reduce the trade deficit

BrusselsThe Twenty-seven are concerned about the trade deficit they have with China, which they have estimated at 1 billion euros per day. Until now, the European Union, which accuses Beijing of unfair competition practices by subsidizing its industries, had focused on the automotive industry with instruments to reduce this trade imbalance. Now the European Commission is studying developing these trade instruments to impose them in other sectors, such as chemicals and machinery, and potentially pharmaceutical products. Member states, meeting in Brussels at a leaders' summit, have urged community leaders to study imports in these sectors to assess taking measures, according to diplomatic sources who informed this newspaper.

The Brussels mechanism to curb the arrival of Chinese hybrids provides for an import quota and the imposition of tariffs for volumes exceeding the set limit. This instrument, stated the EU trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, should be ready in December in the case of plug-in vehicles.

However, Brussels insists that it has not abandoned negotiation with Beijing. In fact, last week Sefcovic met in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, and they agreed to open a path to reduce exports of electric vehicles by "more than half". The commitment they reached set a ceiling of 350,000 hybrid vehicles per year, a figure significantly lower than the imports currently arriving in the EU, which are about 800,000 cars of this type annually.

Now European governments have asked for more sectors to be protected in the face of the increase in Chinese imports, as the bilateral trade deficit continues to grow. The deficit is especially evident with Germany, one of the main parties interested in having this safeguard extended. Beijing overtook Berlin as the world's largest exporter of machine tools in 2025.

The trade heads of Brussels and Beijing committed to meeting again in March 2027. The agreement also established that China would continue to facilitate export licenses for rare earths to Europe with more "transparency" and "predictability" for the supply chain.