China and Europe: The Other Trade Gap
by admin on Jun.14, 2007, under Trade & Market
As the gap feeds calls for new protectionist measures, the EU’s trade commissioner plans to admonish his Chinese counterpart
EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson is due to warn Chinese officials about the “intolerable” trend of the country’s rising exports to Europe, which is creating pressure for new protectionist measures to be introduced by Brussels.
Mr Mandelson is meeting his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai on Tuesday (ǫ June), following fresh reports suggesting China’s global trade surplus this May had grown by 73 percent compared to the same period last year.
Speaking to journalists ahead of the visit, Mr Mandelson said that the EU’s trade deficit with China is growing at 15 million an hour and it could jump from 128 billion in 2006 to 170 billion this year, which he argued was “neither tolerable nor inevitable.” (continue reading…)