European Parliament Vice-President Javi López (S&D) said the European Union's trade imbalance with China is an unsustainable reality that cannot continue.
The statement highlights growing friction between the two economic powers over market access and trade fairness. A persistent deficit of this magnitude threatens the long-term economic stability of the bloc and pressures European industries to compete with heavily subsidized imports.
López said this on Friday after a delegation of EU lawmakers visited China [1]. He identified a trade gap of approximately €1 billion per day [1]. According to López, this deficit is an unsustainable reality, politically and economically [1].
While the EU has sought to diversify its supply chains, the scale of the imbalance remains a central point of contention. López said the current situation is one that cannot continue [1]. He argued that the bloc must take proactive steps to address the disparity to ensure the survival of domestic sectors.
To resolve these tensions, López said the EU must relaunch its relationship with Beijing and defend European interests [1]. This call for a diplomatic reset comes as the EU balances the need for Chinese trade with a strategic desire to reduce dependencies.
The delegation's visit to Beijing served as a backdrop for these warnings. The push for a new framework of relations suggests that previous attempts to narrow the trade gap have not yielded the desired results, leaving the EU vulnerable to continued imbalances.
“The EU's trade imbalance with China "cannot continue".”
The insistence on relaunching relations despite a massive daily deficit indicates a strategic pivot. The EU is attempting to move away from purely reactive trade barriers toward a negotiated structural change in how it engages with China, acknowledging that the current economic asymmetry is no longer politically viable for European leadership.
