A top EU official has voiced frustration over China’s trade policies ahead of a summit this week as Brussels struggles to get Beijing to deliver on commitments to open up its market to European investments.
In an interview with the Financial Times ahead of a meeting between EU and Chinese leaders on Tuesday, EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the bloc would not follow the US route of using punitive tariffs to try to force China to the negotiating table. European steelmakers are among those to have been hit by additional duties imposed by US president Donald Trump since he took office, and Brussels has attacked the measures as a breach of World Trade Organization rules.
But Ms Malmstrom stressed that Europe shared US exasperation about China’s model of “massively” subsidised state-owned enterprises that expand abroad through acquisitions.