Borrell calls for urgent balance of trade with China

The head of the EU's diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has said that the EU needs to balance trade relations with China to reduce its dependence on China.

According to Yevropeiska Pravda, he wrote about this in his blog on the occasion of the publication of his book Europe Between Two Wars.

According to him, this rebalancing is urgent. He pointed out that last year, the trade deficit with China totaled a "staggering" €291 billion, which is 1.7% of EU GDP.

The top diplomat noted that just last month the Chinese government unveiled plans for significant investment in high-tech manufacturing, meaning, Borrell added, that the EU's tech industry will face even fiercer competition in the coming years.

"It is crucial that we protect our industry from unfair competition. We have already started to do this for our electric cars, solar panels, and other zero-balance industries," he said.

At the same time, the official warned against confrontation with China, despite the fact that "our values and political systems are significantly different, and we have opposing views on the universality of human rights."

"We have become too interdependent for that. And cooperation with China is necessary to address the major global challenges of our time, such as climate change," Borrell said.

Author - Olena Madiak, 15/04/2024