EU seeks Chinese export limits as trade talks begin in Beijing
The European Commission is weighing car import quotas and tariffs if China offers no meaningful commitments to address the trade imbalance.
The EU is seeking concessions from China over a goods trade deficit of €1 billion a day as European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič opened negotiations in Beijing on 8 October 2026. Scheduled to last two days, the discussions conclude a negotiating effort launched in June.
Šefčovič is meeting Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and has said that concrete results are essential, describing the trade imbalance as unsustainable. The European Commission has warned that it will act unilaterally on trade restrictions if Beijing fails to offer meaningful commitments. EU leaders will examine the negotiations’ outcome at a summit in Brussels.
EU negotiators are pressing for restraints on Chinese vehicle exports, with a particular focus on hybrids. In August, Chinese cars represented one in eight purchases across the bloc, driven largely by rising plug-in hybrid sales. Those vehicles fall outside the extra countervailing duties applied in 2024 to battery-electric cars made in China.
Possible safeguards for the car industry include a combination of tariffs and import quotas. Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné said the Commission also intends to introduce targeted safeguards for plastics and composite materials, provided EU governments request them.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have backed stronger trade action. Writing jointly to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, they called for broader powers to exclude goods from countries that distort the EU’s single market. Under their proposal, blocking such action would require a qualified majority among EU countries. China was not named in the letter.
