# EU Prepares Tougher Trade Tools Against China as Deficit Nears 360 Billion Euros

Brussels and Beijing opened negotiations on the imbalance and set an October deadline for progress, even as the European Union weighs supply-chain mandates and sector safeguards and its members divide over how far to go.

- Published: 2026-06-29T10:15:25.599Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-06-29/eu-prepares-tougher-trade-tools-against-china-as-deficit-nea
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: world
- Sources: [RBC](https://www.rbc.ru/economics/29/06/2026/6a422f3a9a79470a88896fb8), [South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3355453/eu-mulls-economic-tools-china-vows-take-steps-against-any-new-trade-restrictions)

The European Union is preparing new trade measures against China amid a widening bilateral deficit and growing competition for European industry, while signaling it wants to preserve dialogue with Beijing. [RBC, citing the South China Morning Post](https://www.rbc.ru/economics/29/06/2026/6a422f3a9a79470a88896fb8), reported that Brussels is preparing measures to address the imbalance without ending engagement. On June 29, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, and the two sides [agreed to four negotiating tracks](https://cryptobriefing.com/eu-october-deadline-china-trade-deficit/) covering trade and investment balancing, export controls, intellectual property and reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The European Union set October as the deadline for measurable progress, with Šefčovič planning a follow-up visit to Beijing in the autumn.

The figures involved are large. The EU's goods deficit with China [reached about 360 billion euros in 2025](https://cryptobriefing.com/eu-tougher-trade-action-china/), up from the prior year, and now runs at roughly 1 billion euros a day. Among the options under discussion are rules requiring firms to diversify supply chains for critical inputs such as chips and rare earths, sector-specific safeguard investigations, and, in proposals from France, Italy and others, direct tariffs that would bypass lengthy anti-dumping cases.

The bloc is divided. France presses for stronger tariffs, while Germany and Spain, with deeper commercial ties to China, favor caution. [The South China Morning Post reported](https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3355453/eu-mulls-economic-tools-china-vows-take-steps-against-any-new-trade-restrictions) that Beijing has vowed to respond to any new restrictions.

Europe is thus moving in the same direction as Washington, raising barriers to Chinese goods on industrial-policy and security grounds, while keeping a negotiating channel open. The constraint is that European prosperity depends on open trade, and tariffs that protect favored sectors also raise input costs for everyone else.

## What this means

A second major economic bloc tightening against Chinese exports signals that managed trade and protected sectors are replacing the open system that defined recent decades. The internal EU split shows how hard it is to coordinate that turn when members have very different exposure to China.

## What to watch

- Whether the Commission opens formal safeguard investigations or proposes blanket sector tariffs, the clearest sign of escalation.
- Any Chinese countermeasures aimed at European farm goods, autos or aircraft, which would reveal where Beijing can apply pressure.