{"text":[[{"start":9.65,"text":"The EU wants “tangible results” by October in reducing its soaring trade deficit with China, the bloc’s trade chief has said, as the two sides set up a dialogue to defuse tensions."}],[{"start":21.950000000000003,"text":"EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič was speaking after talks in Brussels on Monday with Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao about the bloc’s €360bn annual deficit with China."}],[{"start":34.45,"text":"The pair issued a rare joint statement launching EU-China Trade and Investment Consultations (TIC), a forum to try to tackle market access issues."}],[{"start":43.650000000000006,"text":"“The main objective of the TIC is to strengthen dialogue at ministerial level on trade and investment policies with the view to stabilise and make our bilateral relationship more balanced,” the statement said."}],[{"start":55.150000000000006,"text":"Šefčovič and Wang also set up an import monitoring mechanism. If there was a surge in Chinese goods entering the EU, it would trigger immediate high-level talks, Šefčovič said. "}],[{"start":66.5,"text":"“We described the situation to our Chinese counterparts very clearly how important [reducing the EU’s trade deficit with China] is for all our member states, how important it is for the European economy, how crucial this is for European industry and how important this is for the thousands and thousands of jobs in the EU, which we clearly have to protect,” Šefčovič said."}],[{"start":87.75,"text":"He plans to visit Beijing in October to ensure there is progress in reducing the deficit but refused to define how that would be assessed."}],[{"start":96.4,"text":"Foreign chambers of commerce in China argue that their companies’ imports often face a web of non-tariff barriers and point to a range of new Chinese laws making it difficult to conduct supply-chain due diligence in the country."}],[{"start":109.75,"text":"They also argue that Chinese controls on rare earth exports, which were introduced last year as part of Beijing’s trade war with US President Donald Trump, have unfairly hit other countries."}],[{"start":121.15,"text":"Wang did not speak to the media but has his own complaints about EU behaviour."}],[{"start":126.10000000000001,"text":"He has already pushed back against trade defence measures from Brussels, including the proposed EU Industrial Accelerator Act, which would bar some Chinese products from the bloc’s public procurement contracts and limit takeovers of European companies."}],[{"start":139.9,"text":"China is also seeking to persuade the EU to relax export controls on high-tech goods, such as Dutch company ASML’s lithography machines that are needed for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Brussels imposed the curbs at the behest of the US."}],[{"start":155.25,"text":"Chinese state media is stepping up its rhetoric against the EU on trade, warning that Beijing could weather a “freeze” in commercial relations ahead of the talks between Wang and Šefčovič . "}],[{"start":166.5,"text":"“China is able to cope with a situation where China-EU economic and trade relations deteriorate further or even slide to the freezing point,” said Yuyuantantian, a social media account linked to Chinese state television CCTV."}],[{"start":183.2,"text":"“China does not want to go that far but it is not afraid to go that way.”"}],[{"start":188.64999999999998,"text":"This month, China abruptly cancelled two important diplomatic meetings with the EU, in what some diplomats said was a sign of rising tensions."}],[{"start":197.89999999999998,"text":"Aside from the Industrial Accelerator Act, the European Commission has also recently outlined an update to its Cyber Security Act to exclude Chinese companies, such as Huawei, from telecoms networks and solar energy systems."}],[{"start":212.29999999999998,"text":"Brussels has also threatened fresh tariffs on Chinese goods to protect the EU’s rapidly eroding industrial base, especially in sectors such as the car industry. It opened five trade investigations in June."}],[{"start":225.29999999999998,"text":"China was willing to expand imports from Europe to try to balance trade, Yuyuantantian said."}],[{"start":231.6,"text":"But it added that first the “European side needs to relax export controls on high-tech products and not weaponise economic and trade issues”."}],[{"start":240.54999999999998,"text":"It said Chinese companies were no longer as concerned about the European market because they now had options such as south-east Asia or the Middle East."}],[{"start":249.74999999999997,"text":"Economists say many components or goods shipped from China to south-east Asia are ultimately re-exported to the US or other developed markets as finished products."}],[{"start":267.95,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782795500_5182.mp3"}