December 9, 2025

Recently, certain European politicians and media outlets have been peddling the narrative that China hardly imports anything from the EU, and even threatened that the bloc could take punitive actions to address the so-called "trade imbalance." 

However, a closer look into relevant data reveals a completely different story: While China maintains a surplus with the EU in terms of trade in goods, it imports hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of products from the bloc; The EU maintains a huge surplus with China in terms of trade in services; Moreover, EU businesses - from makers of planes and cars to fashion houses - make a windfall from the Chinese market each year. 

Assertions that China has deliberately reduced imports from the EU or any other region are not only divorced from economic reality, but also represent a malicious attempt to create pretexts for more protectionist actions that will further undermine mutually beneficial cooperation, Chinese experts said on Tuesday. 

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