Beijing – China’s Ministry of Commerce issued a strong warning ahead of high-level talks expected to take place in Beijing next week.
According to the translation of CNBC, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement later on Tuesday that if the EU takes restrictive measures against Chinese enterprises or products, China will "respond resolutely."
The statement indicates that taking such actions at a time when trade negotiations are underway between China and the European Union will "seriously damage mutual trust" and "disrupt" the negotiations.
This summer, China and the European Union have been engaged in trade negotiations, with Europe hoping to reduce its record trade deficit with China by October. EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic ( Maro š Š ef č ovi č ) warned in an interview with Euronews this week that Beijing must produce "concrete results" by October, otherwise it will face "more stringent measures." It is expected that he will visit Beijing next week.
Earlier this week, Noah Barkin from Rhodium Group indicated that Europe is considering measures to exclude China from the group.
He quoted European officials as saying that Germany and France are finalizing a joint document calling on the European Commission to accelerate the development of a tool. One official described it as something that would allow Brussels to “cut China off from the European market within 24 hours.”
Barkin said that these measures may follow the tariff practices of the US 'Section 301'. A statement from China's Ministry of Commerce stated that China is responding to Europe's consideration of adopting 'Section 301'-style tools.
Although ASEAN surpassed the European Union in 2020 to become China's largest trading partner in goods, according to data from China's customs and information obtained through Wind Information, the European Union has the largest trade deficit with China, which has recently surpassed that of the United States.
If included in trade in services, the EU indicates that it is China's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume last year reaching 880 billion euros, close to 1 trillion US dollars.
