BRUSSELS — EU leaders asked the European Commission to come up with tougher tools to deal with China’s economic might, with Germany warming to a harsher position toward Beijing.
Over late-night dinner at a summit in Brussels, leaders requested the Commission assess the EU’s trade defense tool box and “eventually” come up with new instruments, to ensure the bloc has what it “needs to defend its interests and derisk,” according to an EU official.
Leaders want the Commission to keep engaging with Beijing. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is coming to Brussels at the end of June for a meeting with EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič.
“Everyone believes we need measures to reduce our dependence,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told POLITICO after the summit concluded. “And the subsidies provided in China—that’s not fair. We need a response to that. The Commission intends to propose measures, and we’ll continue to discuss this.”
He said it was an “urgent matter.”
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tried to find out from EU leaders how far they were ready to accept Chinese retaliation, as the bloc grapples with how to shield Europe’s factories from China’s cheaper high-end goods.
There will be a “short term analysis of existing tools and how to be used in a more efficient way,” a second official said, stressing that developing new tools would take time to deliver and then get through the legislative process.
Officials and diplomats, who were briefed on the summit discussion and were granted anonymity to speak about the confidential meeting, said the consensus was growing around the table to strengthen the EU’s trade defenses and develop new instruments to protect markets.
The issue is that China is very good at producing many things, including high-end goods like cars that used to be a preserve of Europe. It’s selling those products into the European market at low prices that European producers can’t compete with and that’s driving them out of business.
