Brussels is open to developing a powerful new trade weapon that could contain a kill switch that would quickly eject Chinese companies from the EU market, the bloc’s national leaders were told during a top-level meeting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. There was broad support among the 27 members for such a tool, first laid out in a French-German joint paper last week, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signalling that her trade team could get to work on developing it,...

Brussels is open to developing a powerful new trade weapon that could contain a kill switch that would quickly eject Chinese companies from the EU market, the bloc’s national leaders were told during a top-level meeting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. There was broad support among the 27 members for such a tool, first laid out in a French-German joint paper last week, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signalling that her trade team could get to work on developing it,...

The EU’s surprise deal with China on hybrid cars last week was supposed to ease the pressure on Beijing. Instead, Brussels is preparing to intensify its crackdown on Chinese trade practices, emboldened by the discovery that its threats are finally delivering results. Now, those driving trade policy for the bloc believe they have landed on a two-track formula. Intensive dialogue is seen to have yielded results and will continue. But so too will the European Union’s efforts to counter what they...

The EU’s surprise deal with China on hybrid cars last week was supposed to ease the pressure on Beijing. Instead, Brussels is preparing to intensify its crackdown on Chinese trade practices, emboldened by the discovery that its threats are finally delivering results. Now, those driving trade policy for the bloc believe they have landed on a two-track formula. Intensive dialogue is seen to have yielded results and will continue. But so too will the European Union’s efforts to counter what they...

Leaders of the EU’s 27 member states will instruct Brussels to “urgently” come up with new weapons to counter the imbalances they believe are caused by China’s economic policies, at a meeting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. The instruction – part of a draft statement being negotiated ahead of this week’s European Council summit – comes after the European Union and China reached a surprise deal in Beijing last week that will cap the number of Chinese hybrid cars imported to the bloc at...

Leaders of the EU’s 27 member states will instruct Brussels to “urgently” come up with new weapons to counter the imbalances they believe are caused by China’s economic policies, at a meeting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. The instruction – part of a draft statement being negotiated ahead of this week’s European Council summit – comes after the European Union and China reached a surprise deal in Beijing last week that will cap the number of Chinese hybrid cars imported to the bloc at...

In September, the Jaecoo 7 – a budget SUV from China’s Chery Automobile – made headlines when it shifted more than 10,000 units to become Britain’s bestselling car. Christened the “Temu Range Rover” online, a nod to the cheap goods available on the Chinese online marketplace and the luxury 4X4 made by Jaguar Land Rover that it resembles, its success showed British drivers’ new-found taste for cut-price Chinese cars. Overall, 23 per cent of new cars bought in Britain last month were Chinese...

The European Union and China have “reached an understanding” that will cut Chinese hybrid car shipments to the bloc by “more than a half”, in a temporary salve to trade tensions that have threatened to boil over into a full-blown trade war. Speaking after marathon trade talks in Beijing, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the deal would see China slash its hybrid car exports “by several million cars” over a four-year period. “This is the first time that China has accepted to moderate its exports...