Thorough: Upward balance, forward development, and expanding the cake of China Europe economic and trade cooperation
On October 8-9, the second meeting of the China EU Trade and Investment Consultation Mechanism was held in Beijing, and both sides finalized the consensus list of results. Among the four major areas of cooperation, the trade and investment balance is at the forefront and contains the most content. Both sides agree to continue communication and consultation on market access issues, gradually promote the resolution of mutual concerns such as medical devices, agricultural and food products, inverter project financing, and continue to promote the upward balance of China Europe trade. This echoes the previous proposal made by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce during the first meeting of the China EU Trade and Investment Consultation Mechanism, which is to promote trade balance and development in emerging, potential, and problematic areas.
International trade is a market-oriented commercial manifestation of the industrial pattern and market supply and demand relationship of various countries. Even if the EU is affected by factors such as inflation and some industries do not have absolute competitive advantages, bilateral international trade still has the foundation for development.
The comparative advantage theory proposed by British economist David Ricardo is often used to explain the underlying logic of international trade: even if the production efficiency of all industries in a country lags behind that of other countries, it can still benefit from international trade. The core is to focus on products with relative production advantages and deeply cultivate and develop them, and obtain the necessary goods through trade exchange. By relying on specialized division of labor production and two-way trade cooperation, all countries can achieve maximum resource utilization and continuously improve economic and trade welfare.
The essence of China Europe economic and trade relations is mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. The current bilateral trade structure is a two-way choice made by both sides based on their respective comparative advantages, and is an inevitable result of market laws. Currently, unilateralism and protectionism continue to spread, and the international economic and trade order is facing challenges. As staunch supporters and active contributors to the multilateral trading system, both China and Europe emphasize the value of a rules based multilateral trading system and the importance of complying with WTO rules.
The EU's expansion of exports to China requires sufficient product supply, and whether it can achieve growth space depends on the actual production capacity and supply capacity of its local enterprises. European Commission Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Shevchovic, who attended the consultation, stated that the EU can expand exports of automotive parts, olive oil, footwear and other products to China. But in my opinion, these types of products are not enough to unleash their full export potential.
The author has reviewed the export data of the European Union in 2025 and found that according to the trade statistics of Eurostat 2025, the top three categories in terms of export value to China are mechanical equipment, electrical machinery, and vehicles, with export values of approximately 49.38 billion US dollars, 31.61 billion US dollars, and 17.88 billion US dollars respectively, accounting for 5.3%, 6.1%, and 3.1% of the global export value of similar goods in the European Union. A considerable proportion of primary raw materials such as plant textile fibers, mineral slag, wood pulp, and recycled pulp exported by the European Union to China.
The large-scale export of mechanical and electronic mechanical products to China reflects the EU's strong industrial strength in related fields. Overall, among the top ten categories of goods exported by the European Union in 2025, eight categories also rank in the top ten of its exports to China. Among them, mineral fuels ranked sixth in EU exports and pearls and gemstones ranked tenth have significant room for improvement in exports to China.
Of course, the release of production capacity and export potential is not directly equivalent to the actual growth of exports to China. The implementation of export growth requires the support of both the market demand on the import side and the core competitiveness of the products on the export side. The competitiveness of export enterprises' products relies on a stable large-scale production system, convenient and efficient cross-border logistics support, and a sustained and stable trade policy environment. To this end, both China and Europe need to jointly strengthen the trade support system, promote the upgrading of logistics infrastructure, reduce trade barriers caused by various standards and regulatory differences, and reduce the uncertainty of the trade environment through stable intergovernmental economic and trade agreements.
In a few days, the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) will open, and over 12000 participating companies will gather in Guangzhou to showcase their cutting-edge achievements. Whether it is the Canton Fair, which has been held for 140 consecutive sessions, or the China International Import Expo (CIIE), they are both benchmarks in the field of international trade and provide rare platforms for countries to expand their exports to China, becoming the core battlefield for global enterprises to showcase their brands and seize the Chinese market. Taking advantage of the 9th China International Import Expo, this procurement matchmaking event was held between China and Europe, providing a high-quality platform for European enterprises to showcase their products, cutting-edge technologies, supporting services, and advanced business concepts in all aspects, effectively smoothing the channels for production and sales docking between China and Europe.
Objectively speaking, while the economic and trade relations between China and Europe have steadily developed in recent years, they have also faced many setbacks. Some trade frictions that do not comply with WTO rules and multilateral economic and trade consensus continue to constrain the improvement and expansion of bilateral trade scale. In the trade and investment balance section of the consensus list, the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), EU guidance on inverter project financing, regulation of cosmetics and drugs, medical devices, electric vehicles, and other key areas of concern for both parties are specifically listed for continued negotiations. It is clarified that both parties need to be guided by multilateral mechanisms and principles. Although these fields appear to have a very limited proportion in China Europe trade and their direct obstacles to trade activities are not obvious, the signals they emit cannot be ignored. If such discriminatory trade measures are allowed to go unchecked, it will exacerbate market anxiety for foreign trade enterprises and shake their confidence in building long-term stable trade cooperation between China and Europe.
Although some business groups in the European Union frequently send signals of trade protectionism, unilaterally believing that restricting imports can boost local economic development, the fact is that throughout the global economic and trade development process, trade barriers and import restrictions will ultimately only constrain the development of local enterprises and harm consumer rights; In the context of economic globalization and coordinated development of cross-border industrial division of labor, it will exacerbate global supply chain risks and continuously weaken the international competitiveness of local products.
Faced with the new economic and trade pattern of deep restructuring of the global supply chain and accelerated transformation of the energy structure, China and Europe should take a long-term perspective, work together, firmly maintain the multilateral economic and trade system, and continue to promote the upward balance and development of bilateral trade. Both sides have the wisdom and ability to create more high-quality development opportunities for enterprise development, market expansion, consumer quality improvement, and upstream and downstream trading partners between China and Europe. (The author is a researcher at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce)