What else you got?
On Monday, EU Trade Chief Valdis Dombrovskis and Vice Premier He Lifeng sat down for the 10th EU-China High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue in Beijing.
Things were a bit testy (Bloomberg):
- “China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng expressed ‘strong concern and dissatisfaction’ on Monday to...Dombrovskis over the bloc’s anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles.”
Dombrovskis had his own complaints, telling He he wants (European Commission 1):
- “Progress on EU concerns on [market] access“
- “Rebalancing the EU–China economic and trade relationship on the basis of transparency, predictability and reciprocity”
On Saturday in a speech in Shanghai, Dombrovskis defended the EU's de-risking strategy, saying (European Commission 2):
- “[The EU] must protect itself in situations when its openness is abused.”
- “Our recent strategy…aims to maximise the benefits of openness, while minimising our strategic dependences and vulnerabilities.”
It wasn’t all bad. Despite their differences, the two sides agreed to:
- Establish a working group on financial regulation
- Work toward a supply chain transparency mechanism
- Continue dialogue on export controls
Get smart: Europe is turning on China.
- Years of unfulfilled promises, diminishing returns, and rising risks have emboldened Brussels to get assertive with Beijing.
The bottom line: Doing business in and with China will become more complicated for European firms.
sources
European Commission: EU calls for greater market access and fair competition at EU-China High-Level Dialogue