China and the European Union will soon enter into three months of negotiations, in hopes of settling what's become a contentious trade relationship.
According to The Guardian, the talks will come with an October deadline, and will cover four areas: rebalancing trade and investments, export controls on rare earths, intellectual property rights, and World Trade Organization reforms. The two sides also agreed to a joint monitoring mechanism, which will allow each party to keep track of sudden surges in imports and exports between them.
The scheduled negotiations follow weeks of threats between the two, that had raised the specter of a protracted trade war. In a joint statement issued on June 30, the two sides said that they hope to come to an understanding regarding their trade relationship moving forward.
“The EU and China, as key trade partners, agree that the main objective of the TIC [trade and investment consultations] is to strengthen dialogue at ministerial level on trade and investment policies with the view to stabilize and make our bilateral relationship more balanced," the statement reads.
In a separate statement, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said that while it's important for the bloc to engage with China, Europe "simply cannot afford to continue in the unsustainable growth of the trade deficit," which currently sits at €360 billion ($410 billion). EU leaders have spoken frequently about what they've come to call "China Shock 2.0," as low-priced Chinese goods and green energy components have flooded into the European market.
