Today, the 25th EU-China summit is taking place in Beijing. This summit must be used to advance negotiations with China towards balanced and fair solutions to a series of existential problems that are threatening thousands of good industrial jobs in Europe.
In the current volatile and explosive geopolitical context, industriAll Europe welcomes this summit, which must facilitate negotiations.
“A trade war has only losers, and workers are always the most impacted. The EU and China are deeply interdependent. We must support thenegotiation of a series of fair and balanced solutions to the problems and tensions that are opposing the two trade partners”, stated Judith Kirton-Darling, industriAll Europe General Secretary.
Negotiating does not mean that the EU has to be naïve and complacent, or should give up defending its strategic economic interests. The current EU-China trade relationship is neither fair nor balanced. The €300bn trade deficit that the EU has with China is not viable and must be rebalanced. In the same way, the EU is far too dependent on China for the supply of strategic equipment, notably for clean tech.
“Limiting market access, weaponising export policy or subsidising overcapacity is corrosive for the trade relations between the EU and China and undermine the efforts to rebuild a global trade regime based on shared rules and agreed principles. This behaviour must stop since it is destructive for key European industries such as automotive. It is up to the EU to find the right mix between negotiated solutions and its trade defence policy toolbox”, said Judith Kirton-Darling.
Among the crucial points that require solutions to build a relationship based on fairness and reciprocity, industrial workers are particularly concerned by the global overcapacity that they see in sectors like steel and basic metals, the chemical industry, and also ceramics or fibres.
“Even though the EU trade defence instruments remain of strategic importance, the EU must intensify the dialogue with its trade partners to solve the problem at its source, and the main source of the global overcapacity problem is clearly in China”, affirmed Judith Kirton-Darling.
The global asymmetry in tackling climate change is another problem that the EU and China need to discuss. The EU has committed to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and is in the process of setting an ambitious emission reduction target for 2040. This general ambition entails a tangible impact for industries with a carbon price that is impacting profit margins in many sectors.
The EU and China must enhance their efforts to bridge the ambition gap when it comes to reducing emissions. They must also build a global climate regime where major economies move at the same pace. The EU’s efforts to decarbonise its industry will be useless and problematic for its prosperity and cohesion if its main trade partners do not implement comparable policies. The EU CBAM is an important part of the solution, but domestic binding legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy and industrial sectors in major economies, in particular China, must remain a priority.
“Just Transition is not possible for European industrial workers if the country responsible for a third of global emissions remains without a climate legislation equivalent to the one the EU industry has to cope with”, expressed Judith Kirton-Darling.
As part of the European and global trade union movement, industriAll Europe wants the EU to keep human rights and workers’ rights at the top of the agenda of the EU-China summit.
“Efforts to reduce our dependence and fix our trade problems with China should not overshadow the importance of also fighting human rights violations and forced labour, including via due diligence legislation. Our economic prosperity should not come at the expense of Europe’s core values”, concluded Judith Kirton-Darling.