Maros Sefcovic said working groups will address the widening trade imbalance, export controls, intellectual property and WTO reform as both sides use an October deadline to try to ease broader tensions.
The European Union and China have set October as a target for producing tangible progress in trade talks, underscoring efforts to manage a relationship strained by longstanding imbalances. After talks in Brussels, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said discussions with China's commerce minister Wang Wentao were "intensive, focused and constructive" and that working groups would address the trade balance, export controls, intellectual property and WTO reform. The EU says China's exports to the bloc keep rising while the EU's market share in China keeps shrinking, with China's trade surplus with the EU reaching €360.6 billion ($411.95 billion) in 2025, up 15% from 2024, and expanding by 10% in the first four months of this year. Sefcovic said China's assurances that rare earth controls would not disrupt EU supply chains were a positive sign, but the October timeline may still prove to be a negotiating marker rather than a guarantee of resolving deeper structural tensions or avoiding possible retaliation.