EU giants want more trade restrictions against China
Summary
- France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Lithuania are urging the EU to enhance trade restrictions to better compete with China and protect domestic industries.
- The EU's trade deficit with China reached EUR 360 billion last year, with exports decreasing by 6.6% and imports increasing by the same percentage.
- A Reuters report highlights that these countries want to focus on imports from China, criticizing previous measures for delays and limited scope.
- The European Commission plans to agree on new trade measures by Q3, amid concerns over the slow pace of decision-making.
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Automatic translation: Originally published in Finnish 27/05/2026, 04:07 GMT. Give feedback here.
France, Italy, Spain, and two smaller EU countries (the Netherlands and Lithuania) are pressuring the Union to improve trade restrictions to better compete against China and protect their own industries.
The European Commission will discuss the EU's relations with China on Friday, with trade at the core: as in the United States, the EU's trade deficit with China is becoming an increasing problem. Last year, the trade deficit reached EUR 360 billion. Exports to China decreased by 6.6%, but imports grew by the same amount. The volume of imports from China has almost doubled in the last ten years, while export growth has stagnated in comparison (see figure below). I discussed trade between China and the EU in more detail in yesterday's macro article.
Source: Eurostat
A Reuters report now states that five countries particularly want to focus on imports from China, according to an article it obtained. Previous measures have, according to the report, suffered from long delays and an overly narrow product focus. The Commission intends to agree on new measures by Q3. Time is not on the EU's side in this regard either, as recent foreign trade figures show that export growth to the EU accelerated to almost 20% in January-February. Naturally, there is a risk that the measures will fall victim to the slow wheels of decision-making, but perhaps something concrete will be on the table after the summer holidays.
