EU sets up three months of talks with China over €360bn trade deficit

The EU and China have agreed to enter three months of talks to try to avoid a trade war over the bloc’s €360bn (£310bn) annual import/export imbalance. In their first joint statement in seven years, the two sides agreed in Brussels to open a formal trade consultation after weeks of threats and recriminations from China if the EU imposed any measures to stop the flood of goods and components into the bloc. The EU’s trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said he hoped the “dialogue would bring tangible results” before the next meeting in Beijing in October. He met his Chinese counterpart, the commerce minister, Wang Wentao, for talks on Monday as part of a diplomatic offensive. They said in a joint statement: “The EU and China as key trade partners, agree that the main objective of the TIC [trade and investment consultations] is to strengthen dialogue at ministerial level on trade and investment policies with the view to stabilise and make our bilateral relationship more balanced.” EU leaders met two weeks ago to discuss concerns over what is now widely being described as China Shock 2.0 – a threat to European industries and jobs that extends far beyond electric vehicles and green energy. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, said on 15 June that Chinese exports to the EU outweighed imports from the bloc by €1bn a day . Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, updates reporters on Monday about talks with China. …