{"id":2414,"date":"2026-10-10T02:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2414"},"modified":"2026-10-10T02:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:03:46","slug":"china-eu-strike-deal-to-halve-chinese-hybrid-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2414","title":{"rendered":"China, EU strike deal to halve Chinese hybrid exports"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

China and the European Union have reached a deal that could cut Chinese \u200bexports of hybrid cars to the bloc by more than half, European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Friday after talks in Beijing aimed at reducing the EU\u2019s ballooning trade deficit with \u200cChina.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cshared understanding\u201d would \u201cmoderate\u201d China\u2019s exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU, and would cut the imports of several million cars over four years, Sefcovic said after the two-day talks, without offering details on how the agreement will be implemented.<\/p>\n

Shares of European carmakers, which have slid steadily over the past two years due to US tariffs and soaring Chinese exports, broadly gained on the news.<\/p>\n

The understanding came after discussions between Sefcovic and Chinese officials, including Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, over three months, and comes after years of disputes \u200bbetween Beijing and Brussels over soaring Chinese exports, such as cars.<\/p>\n

EU leaders will discuss the outcome at the start of their summit in Brussels next Thursday to determine whether the agreement marks the start \u200bof a rebalancing of the bloc\u2019s trade deficit with China that has swelled to more than \u20ac1 billion ($1.12 billion) a day.<\/p>\n

Sefcovic said he believed the two sides had achieved a \u2060very good result.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving said that, this is far from the end. It is a crucial first step \u2013 but only a first step \u2013 in the process of rebalancing,\u201d he told reporters in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament\u2019s \u200btrade committee, said the hybrid deal needed to extend to other sectors as well and that the EU should also deploy trade defence measures more effectively.<\/p>\n

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang told Sefcovic that China was not the root cause \u200bof the EU\u2019s problems, but a partner in solving them, according to the Chinese ministry.<\/p>\n

The two sides also reached understandings on reducing Chinese import duties on some \u20ac4 billion of EU exports, including car parts, olive oil and footwear, and on smoothing China\u2019s granting of export licences for rare earths and permanent magnets, Sefcovic said.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Chinese car imports to EU surge<\/h3>\n

EU governments are alarmed by the sharp rise in car imports from China as their own carmakers lay off workers, notably at Volkswagen where 100,00 job are going. Imports of plug-in \u200bhybrids into the EU increased 86% in the year to September, with a 20% decline in prices. More than half of these vehicles are now from China, while for 2025, China\u2019s share of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle imports \u200bwas 30% in value terms.<\/p>\n

China and the EU\u2019s dispute over cheap Chinese EV exports, resulting in EU tariffs in 2024, has clouded bilateral ties and has since broadened to include Chinese measures against EU brandy, pork and dairy, as well as \u200cChinese restrictions on \u2060exports of rare earths and critical minerals.<\/p>\n

Paris and Berlin are among the hardest hit by Beijing\u2019s measures, with France accounting for 90% of EU brandy exports to China and Germany heavily exposed in dairy.<\/p>\n

China and the EU said in their joint statement they would continue discussions on price undertakings as an alternative to tariffs. However, even with the tariffs, Chinese EV exports have started to increase again this year.<\/p>\n

German auto industry group VDA cautiously welcomed the agreement, but said it was too early to determine if it would address unfair competition. Mercedes-Benz said the deal showed constructive dialogue was the right way to address challenges and it should provide greater predictability.<\/p>\n

Matthias Schmidt, European autos research analyst, said countries \u200blike Germany had thought themselves immune to the threat \u200bfrom Chinese car companies, but were waking up and \u2060asking Brussels to step in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result is this statement from Sefcovic today,\u201d he said. \u201cNow Berlin is asking London to join them, and Brussels, given the UK accounts for 30% of Western Europe\u2019s Chinese new car sales.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of Friday\u2019s agreement, China\u2019s commerce ministry said it also would continue facilitating the approval of export licenses for rare earths \u200band permanent magnets through a \u201cgreen channel\u201d mechanism.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trade imbalance at heart of dispute<\/h3>\n

Chinese exports to the EU totalled $560 billion last year, according to UN Comtrade data, up from $517 billion \u200bin 2024, as exports to major \u2060economies including Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland each rose about 10% from a year earlier, while shipments to Hungary jumped 43%.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China took $268.3 billion worth of European goods last year, down from $269.4 billion a year prior, led by purchases from Denmark, Ireland and France.<\/p>\n

China needs foreign buyers for the flood of relatively cheap state-subsidised goods its own shoppers can\u2019t absorb, and the EU is torn between welcoming those imports to ease living costs and keeping them out to rebuild its own factories.<\/p>\n

European Commission \u2060President Ursula von \u200bder Leyen warned the European Parliament last month that the trade gap had reached a tipping point and that the 27-member bloc would \u200buse all the tools at its disposal to rebalance the relationship.<\/p>\n

China and the EU will keep exploring the possibility of lowering tariffs on certain goods and continue dialogue on market access for medical devices, the Chinese ministry said. Sefcovic and Wang are set to meet again in March \u200b2027, with a video conference call in January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China and the European Union have reached a deal that could cut Chinese \u200bexports of hybrid cars to the bloc by more than half, European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Friday after talks in Beijing aimed at reducing the EU\u2019s ballooning trade deficit with \u200cChina. The \u201cshared understanding\u201d would \u201cmoderate\u201d China\u2019s exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU, and would cut the imports of several million cars over four years, Sefcovic said after the two-day talks, without offering details on how the agreement will be implemented. Shares…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}