The Guardian - China-EU expected to issue veiled warning to China over supply of cut-cost goods
December 5, 2023 3 min 498 words
这篇报道揭示了中欧之间贸易逆差的问题，欧盟对中国提出4000亿欧元的贸易逆差并不可持续的担忧。文章指出，这种不平衡可能由中国向欧洲倾销补贴电动车、太阳能板和医疗设备引起，对欧洲制造业和就业构成威胁。欧盟领导人将在峰会上向中国发出含蓄的警告，暗示如果中国不采取措施解决向欧洲供应廉价商品的问题，欧盟可能采取包括关税和贸易战在内的防御性机制。这反映出欧洲对中方不公平贸易手段的强烈反感，并强调了贸易关系的失衡。中欧应该通过对话解决这一问题，而不是陷入贸易战的失败局面。报道中提到的中国电动车在欧洲市场份额近两年几乎翻倍，引起欧盟担忧，这也表明中欧贸易关系存在深层次问题。贸易争端可能是解决问题的一种手段，但更理想的是通过谈判和合作，共同建立公平、可持续的贸易关系。
The EU is to tell China that its €400bn (£343bn) trade deficit is not sustainable long term amid fears that it will flood the bloc with subsidised electric cars, solar panels and medical devices, threatening European manufacturing and jobs.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission chief, and Charles Michel, the European Council president, will meet Xi Jinping at a summit on Thursday, the second of its kind this year.
They are expected to issue the Chinese president with a veiled warning that unless China does something about the supply of cut-cost goods to Europe, the bloc could retaliate with defensive mechanisms that could include tariffs and a trade war.
“We have tools to protect our market,” von der Leyen told reporters, adding that EU countries “prefer to have negotiated solutions”.
The EU will point out that the trade deficit has doubled in two years in China’s favour, making the relationship imbalanced.
“Choices have to be taken here, it is not sustainable and something has to change,” said a senior EU official.
The official said the speed of the increase in the trade deficit with China “tells you there is something wrong with the relationship that needs fixing” but a trade war would be a “failure” of statecraft and it would be better to try to find a prior solution.
China’s share of the European car market has almost doubled in two years causing concern in the EU, which in September launched an investigation into subsidies.
Last week, the group head of Renault, Luca de Meo, told reporters in Brussels that the company was hoping to reduce the cost of an electric vehicle by 40% in the next three to four years.
Both the US and the EU already have a fight on their hands with Chinese EVs but concerns have heightened that oversupply and dampened domestic demand in China will trigger a flood in other areas, including the “sunshine sector” involving green tech such as solar panels.
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Hungary, whose economy continues to contract, is wooing China with the Chinese giant CATL expected to invest €7.3bn (£6.25bn) in a lithium ion EV battery plant following a deal clinched in August by Viktor Orbán, its prime minister.
But EU sources say Hungary, like the rest of the EU, will not be able to withstand the loss of jobs if the near one-way trade continues.
“Overcapacity, politically, is not viable. Even countries that have a very open and friendly relationship with China will not find it viable for their industry to be essentially undercut,” said the EU official.