Canada's Carney to attend EU State of the Union in Strasbourg as von der Leyen warns on China trade imbalance
International AffairsWell-covered
|
The Facts
- Von der Leyen said the EU's trade deficit with China has reached almost €1 billion a day.
- All 27 EU member states are running a trade deficit with China for the first time, von der Leyen said.
- EU imports of Chinese goods rose 45% over the past five years, according to von der Leyen.
- Von der Leyen said EU exports to the Chinese market have been declining.
- Von der Leyen said the EU must be ready to use its trade instruments when dialogue with China is not enough.
- Von der Leyen made the remarks at the Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France business forum in Paris.
- Von der Leyen said the advantages that long underpinned Europe's economic model have disappeared.
- She listed cheap imported energy, open global trade, access to China, US strategic protection and Western technological leadership among the lost advantages.
- Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded by calling von der Leyen "Captain Obvious of the Eurotitanic."
Context
What exactly is Canada planning with the EU?
Prime Minister Mark Carney will attend von der Leyen's State of the Union speech in Strasbourg on 16 September, followed by a summit between Ottawa and Brussels. Carney has pledged to deepen Canada's economic and security partnership with the EU, but EU membership is not an option Euronews English.
Why is Canada turning toward Europe now?
Trade talks between Ottawa and Washington collapsed, with Canada accusing the US of interfering in its sovereignty by demanding French-language concessions. In response, Donald Trump said on Truth Social that tariffs on cars and trucks would rise to 50% on 1 January 2027 Euronews English.
What tools does the EU have if talks with China fail?
Von der Leyen said the EU must be ready to fully use its trade instruments when dialogue does not deliver ANSA.it,Interfax.ru. Reporting notes the Commission has an Anti-Coercion Instrument at its disposal Tengrinews.kz. She also said some Chinese firms receive subsidies up to eight times those of comparable OECD companies ANSA.it,Interfax.ru.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
Left and right largely agree on this one.
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both read the €1 billion daily deficit and 45% import surge as proof that dialogue with China has hit its ceiling: Europe should use its trade instruments.
- Where Left and Right differ in emphasis
- Both want the instruments used; one to rebuild an industrial base and wages for workers here, the other to end one-way access and strategic dependency.
- Why they won’t converge
- The divide is over ends rather than evidence: the same deficit figure reads as lost wages to be won back or as strategic dependency to be severed, so agreement on the number settles nothing about what trade instruments should protect.
How left and right read it
Almost €1 billion a day in trade deficit is not an accounting line; it is production that no longer happens in Europe and wages that no longer reach European workers, because imports of Chinese goods rose 45% in five years while exports to China declined. Every one of the 27 is now exposed. So dialogue cannot be the ceiling: use the trade instruments, and rebuild an industrial base that pays working people here.
A trading relationship only earns the name when access runs both ways. Yet imports of Chinese goods rose 45% in five years while EU exports to China declined, and every one of the 27 member states now runs a deficit approaching €1 billion a day. Cheap energy, access to China, American strategic protection — von der Leyen says those props are gone. So use the trade instruments. What dependency is Europe still content to keep?
The receipts — all 65 sources
Independent coverage (50)
Facts first. Then every angle.
The day’s biggest stories in one short brief — the facts everyone agrees on, then the competing values behind the headlines. Free in your inbox.