Tr A D E B A R R I E

Tr a d e b a r r i e r s

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At the second annual China-EU highlevel economic dialogue, China's vice premier, Wang Qishan, urged the EU to likewise take concrete steps to eliminate trade obstacles to jointly tackle the current crisis.

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Hu Dawei, an expert on China and EU relations, said new trade barriers raised by some European countries would create obstacles for the economic relations of the two sides.

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"Actually some European countries have been sticking to protective policies against Chinese exports, like steel products, for a long time. And those trade barriers always undermine Sino-EU economic cooperation. I think it is very important to call on precaution at this meeting to curb trade protectionism

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 He said imbalance in bilateral trade has been a concern for European countries to carry out protective policy. However, he suggested that the EU should lever restrictions on exporting high-tech goods to China because these restrictions have contributed to the current trade imbalance.  "Some European countries are reluctant to introduce their technology edge to China, which is an important factor to cause trade imbalance. The EU is concerned about China's trade surplus with the EU. But the surplus is closely related with the trade restrictions they set up themselves, like in the high-tech field."  The expert said there is huge potential for China and the EU to continue their cooperation despite the spat over trade. He suggested the two sides could improve their economic ties in the fields of investment, high technology, new sources of energy and environmental protection

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