Europe raids Trump’s tool box for new ‘trade bazooka’ against China

October 8, 2026 — 9:14am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

No gift articles left

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

A delegation of European Union trade negotiators is in Beijing, hoping to avert what could be a full-scale trade confrontation with China.

The talks on Thursday and Friday between a team headed by EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao are taking place amid Europe’s fears that a swelling flood of cheap Chinese imports is de-industrialising its economies.

Last year, China’s trade surplus with the EU was €360.6 billion ($580 billion). So far this year, China’s exports to the EU are up 15 per cent and the surplus has swollen by as much as 23 per cent. Sefcovic has called the widening trade imbalance “unsustainable” and a threat to Europe’s social model.

The increasing concerns about the unbalanced trade relationship have brought about an unlikely alliance between France, traditionally one of the more protectionist of the major European countries, and Germany, historically a free trader and opponent of measures to restrict imports from China.

With imports of Chinese electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids cutting a swathe through the German auto industry – Volkswagen has recently announced the closure of four of its major factories, with about 100,000 of job losses – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has joined France’s Emmanuel Macron in calling for the creation of a new “last resort” trade instrument that could instantly cut off access to the EU market.

The risk for China is that if it continues to wipe out other countries’ manufacturing sectors and jobs, others might hold their noses and join the protectionist US president.

That’s a major shift in Germany’s stance. Historically, it opposed trade restrictions because it was a major exporter to China and its companies had invested heavily........

© WA Today