Maroš Šefčovič's remarks come ahead of a crunch visit to Beijing in early October
The European Commission will trigger a barrage of trade defence measures unless China imports more from the EU, the bloc’s trade chief has said, amid rising tensions between Brussels and Beijing.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU trade commissioner, said on Tuesday that the EU’s deficit with China is now so large that the bloc must boost exports to and limit imports from Beijing to “rebalance” trade with the world’s second-largest economy.
The EU’s deficit with China surged to €359.8 billion in 2025, up from €304.5 billion in 2024, according to Eurostat, with exports falling by 6.5% and imports increasing by 6.4%. The bloc’s trade deficit with China also rose by €2.9 billion from the first to the second quarter of this year.
“If you look at the deficit and the dynamics, we do not believe that the solution would lie only in increasing the exports of the EU to China, because the gap is simply too big,” Šefčovič said at an event in Berlin.
