EU, China strike interim trade deal that could cut Chinese hybrid exports, EU envoy says
HONG KONG — The top trade envoys for China and the European Union agreed Friday on a broad initial deal following two days of talks aimed at calming escalating tensions over trade imbalances, the EU trade commissioner said. Neither side provided clear details on the preliminary deal, but European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic said it includes lower tariffs for some European goods to China as well as measures to stabilize rare earth supply chains. The EU trade envoy said the deal could cut up to 50 percent of Chinese electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle imports to the EU and could lower tariffs on products benefiting “almost every” EU nation. The deal would require approval from leaders across the 27-nation EU. He said that “by this step we are actually preventing several millions of car exports from China to the European Union.” The two sides were seeking to resolve key factors behind China’s growing trade surplus, which hit 360 billion euros ($410 billion) last year. China’s Commerce Ministry posted online that Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao expressed concerns
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