China-EU investment deal should stay in 'deep freezer', outgoing trade chief warns
The EU's outgoing top trade official Sabine Weyand advised shelving the planned investment deal with China, citing China's structural 'macroeconomic' issues. She signaled new tools are needed to address Chinese practices.
The planned EU-China investment deal has been in lengthy negotiations with little progress. In her departing address to the European Parliament, Weyand argued the deal needs new 'protection' measures and called for the EU to develop new tools to address China's structural issues, including dumping practices. She emphasized that China's structural economic problems drive it to export at low prices while importing at high rates, harming EU producers. European firms face pricing pressure in Chinese markets, leading to job losses. Shelving the deal in a 'deep freezer' suggests buying time to rebalance trade. Incoming EU leadership is expected to adopt a harder China stance, and this deal may be part of that shift.
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