Following on from the European Council meeting, at which the Member States mandated the European Commission to continue the dialogue with China (see EUROPE 13892/4), the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maros Šefčovič, met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, on Monday 29 June.
Speaking to the press, the Commissioner referred to “in-depth, targeted and constructive” exchanges with his counterpart. He nevertheless warned that “the status quo is not an option”. “The gap is widening: Chinese exports to the EU continue to increase, while our market share in China is declining”, he recalled.
In an attempt to address this, the two sides announced the creation of ‘Trade and Investment Consultations’, a dialogue platform intended to improve bilateral relations, whose first meeting was held the same day.
In a joint statement - the first since 2019 - the EU and China identified four areas of work within the framework of these consultations: the trade and investment balance, export controls (notably the restrictions put in place by Beijing on rare earths), intellectual property rights and, lastly, reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In addition, a monitoring mechanism will be put in place in order to monitor trade flows on both sides and detect any sudden surges in exports. It will also have to “support technical work, strengthen mutual trust and manage trade frictions”, the statement specifies.
Commissioner Šefčovič and Minister Wang instructed their departments to implement the work in the four identified areas and agreed to meet again in the autumn. Asked about this deadline, the Commissioner indicated that expectations were “very clear” following the European Council, with the Heads of State or Government calling for rapid progress on this issue.
The discussions continued into the evening but, according to the Commissioner, this does not point to any particular difficulties. “Our trade relations are considerable […]. There is a lot of ground to cover”, he stressed. An initial assessment of the progress made by the teams should be carried out as early as September.
See the joint statement: https://aeur.eu/f/mmu (Original version in French by Juliette Verdes)