Von der Leyen summarises Beijing visit, flags trade imbalances and de‑risking

Main Message

Von der Leyen said EU-China trade is extensive, noting trade exceeded EUR 2.3 billion per day in 2022 and that the EU's trade deficit has more than tripled over the last ten years to almost EUR 400 billion last year. She highlighted unfair practices affecting EU agri-food and medical devices and cited pressures such as technology transfer demands, excessive data requirements and insufficient enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Why It Matters

These structural imbalances and market access barriers disadvantage EU companies operating in or exporting to China and raise concerns about dependencies and leakage of sensitive technologies. The talks also covered geopolitics, with von der Leyen urging China to promote a just peace in Ukraine, refrain from supplying military equipment to Russia and identifying areas for cooperation on climate and biodiversity.

What Follows

She said the EU and China agreed to resume the High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue and the High-Level Digital Dialogue to convene as soon as possible and noted the resumption of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue.