Can Europe stand up to China on trade?

The European Union's commercialized relations with China person deteriorated successful caller weeks, arsenic the bloc attempts to code its ballooning commercialized shortage with Beijing and trim its reliance connected cardinal goods and services. European leaders are besides acrophobic astir what they spot arsenic China's unfair competition, which they blasted for concern woes and occupation losses crossed the continent.

One of the EU’s responses to these challenges is the Industrial Accelerator Act, launched by the European Commission successful March, which aims to “strengthen EU concern competitiveness” by focusing connected a scope of measures, including a 'Made successful Europe' procurement process, preferring providers based connected the continent implicit 3rd countries.

It besides seeks to “speed up the decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries, net-zero technologies, and the automotive sector”.

The plans prompted scathing disapproval from China past month, with Beijing arguing that immoderate rules prioritising Europeans would make concern barriers and favoritism – and that countermeasures could follow.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič deed backmost astatine these threats, telling Euronews past week that the EU would basal its crushed implicit its plans to fortify the bloc’s concern policy.

He besides warned that the EU volition not hesitate to support its industries and volition “fight bony and nail for each European job, for each European company, for each unfastened sector, if we spot they are treated unfairly”.

So, arsenic 1 of the world’s astir important commercialized relationships sours, the trillion-dollar question is: who volition blink archetypal successful this clash of 2 planetary economical superpowers?

A commercialized narration similar nary other

Trade betwixt the 2 hegemons is massive: the EU is China’s largest trading partner, portion the Asian elephantine is the bloc’s 3rd largest trading partner, aft the US and UK.

As of 2026, China (19-20%) and the EU (14-15%) jointly marque up astir a 3rd of planetary gross home merchandise (33-35%) and 30% of planetary trade.

In 2025, the EU exported €199.6 cardinal worthy of goods and services to China, and imported €559.4 cardinal successful return, a commercialized shortage of €359.9 billion, according to Eurostat figures.

EU exports to China are dominated by machinery, appliances, vehicles and chemicals, portion imports see electrical machinery, electrical vehicles, high-tech components and manufactured goods – successful particular, instrumentality and materials important to Europe’s greenish and integer transition, specified arsenic star panels, lithium-ion batteries and magnesium.

Compared with 2024, EU exports to China fell by 6.5%, portion imports roseate by 6.4%. But implicit the longer term, since 2015, EU exports to China person grown by 37.1%, portion imports person surged by 89%.

What tin the EU do?

Even though Brussels has for years complained astir the harmful effects of Beijing's state-run economical model, specified arsenic concern overcapacity and extended subsidies, EU subordinate states person been incapable to hold connected a communal enactment of enactment to propulsion back.

Brussels has signed commercialized deals with Mercosur (January), India (January) and Indonesia (September 2025) to diversify EU proviso chains arsenic they look to trim their reliance connected China and the US portion maintaining beardown relations connected cardinal issues.

However, Trump’s tariff warfare has made galore European leaders rethink their presumption connected commercialized arsenic they question to some trim their reliance connected resources from idiosyncratic 3rd countries portion processing their ain autonomy.

Many of these aforesaid leaders person turned to China successful hunt of commercialized and concern opportunities to offset those mislaid successful the US commercialized warfare arsenic good arsenic to physique ties with what they presumption arsenic a reliable spouse successful maintaining the planetary order.

And galore EU leaders person visited China this past year, including France's President Emmanuel Macron, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, arsenic good arsenic European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.

The EU has agelong sought a commercialized woody with Beijing, gathering upon the 2020 statement successful principle, which gave European investors much marketplace access, acceptable retired rules for state-owned companies, highlighted transparency of subsidies, and banned forced exertion transfer.

However, successful Brussels, arsenic the commercialized shortage continues to turn – China recorded a grounds $1.2 trillion commercialized surplus with the remainder of the satellite astatine the extremity of 2025 – talks person intensified implicit the request to de-risk oregon decouple from China.

EU manufacture groups are present being consulted implicit whether Brussels tin and should deploy its alleged ‘trade bazooka’, the Anti-Coercion Instrument, to propulsion backmost connected Beijing’s unit to unfastened up the EU marketplace adjacent much to Chinese companies and to tackle the country’s overcapacity.

Final plans are expected to beryllium discussed astatine the extremity of the period erstwhile the European Commission holds a statement connected China connected 29 May.

Should the European Union instrumentality a tougher commercialized stance connected China? Watch the latest episode of The Ring, Euronews’ play statement programme featuring MEPs Sakis Arnaoutoglou and Nicolás Pascual de la Parte.