China and EU Reach Understanding to Halve Chinese Hybrid Exports to the Bloc, Ease Rare-Earth Licensing
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said in Beijing on Friday (Oct. 9) that the European Union and China have reached a "shared understanding" under which China will moderate its exports of hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars to the EU — a step that could cut those imports by more than half, by several million cars over four years. The understanding followed about three months of discussions and two days of talks in Beijing with Chinese officials including Commerce Minister Wang Wentao; Sefcovic did not provide implementation details.
According to the EU side, the package also includes improved EU access to China's market and an easing of Chinese licensing for rare-earth exports. The EU's trade deficit with China has swelled to more than 1 billion euros (about $1.12 billion) a day. Sefcovic called the outcome a very good result but "only a first step," with EU leaders set to discuss it at their Brussels summit next Thursday. Bernd Lange, who chairs the European Parliament's trade committee, said the deal should extend to other sectors and that the EU should deploy trade-defense measures more effectively.
Shares of European carmakers, squeezed over the past two years by U.S. tariffs and surging Chinese exports, broadly gained on the news. China's commerce ministry said Wang told Sefcovic that China is not the root cause of the EU's problems, but a partner in solving them.
(Source: Reuters Beijing, Oct. 9)
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Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：欧盟委员会总部贝尔莱蒙大厦（布鲁塞尔）。摄影：almathias，CC0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
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