EU Calls For New Measures Amid High Trade Deficit With China

BRUSSELS, Oct 16 (NNN-dpa) - European Union leaders called for new instruments to address the bloc's global trade imbalances after its trade deficit climbed to €1 billion (US$1.12 billion) a day.

EU leaders called on the European Commission "to urgently enhance the EU toolbox with new instruments to better address these imbalances," in a joint statement adopted on Thursday.

Leaders gathered in Brussels for an EU summit also encouraged the Commission "to continue to engage in results-oriented dialogues."

Although the statement does not mention China explicitly, the EU has so far counted on diplomacy and dialogue with Beijing to rebalance its commercial relations rather than tariffs and other restrictions.

Ahead of the summit, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron jointly called for two new EU measures to tackle market-distorting practices that they say are undermining European companies and increasing the bloc's economic dependencies.

One is aimed at diversification, designed to ensure that companies do not become too dependent on suppliers from individual countries. The second is a procedure that would allow another country to be excluded from the European single market on an expedited basis.

Last week, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic announced plans to curb the import of hybrid cars to the bloc.

European car manufacturers are under heavy pressure due to the mass export of affordable Chinese cars, which are also competing with European models in the domestic Chinese market.

--NNN-XINHUA