Brussels

Published on 09/10/2026 – 15:51 GMT+2•Updated
16:54

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič announced a deal with China on Friday to curb imports of Chinese hybrid vehicles into the EU and facilitate access to rare earths.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

While the understanding signals a preference for a diplomatic resolution to the growing trade imbalance, European leaders are pushing for stronger measures to level the playing field. They are expected to review the details at a summit in Brussels next week.

The EU has also floated retaliatory measures if the outcome falls short of expectations.

Šefčovič travelled to Beijing on Wednesday for two days of intensive talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, in a bid to rebalance EU-China trade relations.

The EU is facing a record trade deficit with China of €1 billion a day, as a surge in low-cost Chinese imports threatens entire sectors of European industry.

“We have reached a shared understanding to moderate China’s export of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the European Union,” Šefčovič said. “This opens up the prospect of cutting China’s exports by more than half.”

The commissioner said the deal would also improve access to the Chinese market for a range of EU products, from “car parts to olive oil and footwear”, representing almost €4 billion in current export value. It should generate at least €225 million in duty savings, he added.

Market access has been at the heart of EU-China discussions since negotiations began last June. Beijing has been reluctant to relinquish access to the EU’s 450-million-consumer market, which provides an outlet for its excess production.

Meanwhile, Brussels has proposed several legislative measures aimed at restricting Chinese companies’ access to the European market, while pressing Beijing to open up its own market to EU businesses.

Šefčovič also said China had agreed to facilitate exports of rare earths, which are essential to Europe’s green technology, defence and automotive industries.

“We have reached a shared understanding to further facilitate China’s export licensing for rare earths and permanent magnets,” he said.

The EU has accused China of “weaponising” its dependence on Chinese rare earths after Beijing restricted exports in 2025 amid a trade war with the US.

Šefčovič described the agreement as the conclusion of a “first phase of negotiations”.

The deal comes ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week, with expectations running high for concrete results from negotiations led by the European Commission on their behalf since last June.

A consensus on China has been emerging across the EU this week.

All EU countries now run trade deficits with China. On Monday, Germany and France urged the European Commission to take strong action against unfair Chinese trade practices that cause severe market distortions.

In a joint document, Paris and Berlin called for measures that could include “an immediate cut-off from the internal market if needed”.

On Wednesday, MEPs overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for resolute measures against Beijing.

Meanwhile, 44 EU industries, including chemicals, machinery, metals, solar, glass and cement, issued a joint statement on Friday warning that “Europe cannot maintain and grow its industrial base, quality jobs, and attract investment without the ability to respond effectively to unfair trade practices and distortions”.

Belgian police respond to ‘troublemakers’ on sidelines of main rally with tear gas, water cannon and baton charges.

Clashes have erupted near Brussels Central station on the sidelines of a demonstration organised by the country’s socialist trade union against the federal government’s austerity plans.

As thousands of protesters gathered at the station on Friday, a smaller group clashed with the police and threw wooden beams, glass bottles and rubbish bins, The Belgian Times reported.

Police were deployed in large numbers around the stations as officers checked groups of young people not wearing trade union colours.

Police said the main trade union rally went ahead peacefully but “groups of troublemakers were responsible for serious incidents before and after the march.”

Riot police responded to those protesters with tear gas, water cannon and baton charges. Police said those who “cause the problems of public order are not linked” to the rally.

Reporting from Brussels, Al Jazeera’s Rosie Birchard said damage was caused during Friday morning’s protests with an “acrid smell of burning in the air”, due to fires that were set and the tear gas.

“Police [and] emergency services have been arriving, starting to disperse or clean up and then the protests flare up again. So the day is still early; often these things get worse in the evening in terms of the street violence,” Birchard explained.

“There were some young people who came out, they say they were inspired by what they had seen in France in terms of school protests, and they also wanted to talk about the education environment they’re learning in,” she said, adding that the students felt that they were “not being listened to”.

The clashes came after a week of tension in the city of Liege after authorities banned gatherings as students clashed with police and vandalised shops. More than 200 people were arrested in Liege, and dozens of police were injured.

The ABVV trade union and the Christian ACV, the country’s two biggest unions, organised protests on Friday morning, with protesters marching from Brussels Central station to Brussels South Station under the slogan “stay out of our pockets”.

Police said about 30,000 people attended the demonstrations, while ABVV had earlier estimated attendance at 50,000.

The anger stems from the government’s austerity measures, as officials consider a new budget that opposes potential measures that affect purchasing power, the wage indexation system and value-added tax (VAT), as well as plans to introduce annualised working time.

At the same time, the ACV organised a separate protest involving hundreds of activists at the capital’s headquarters of the governing coalition parties.