For three years Europe has repeated the same phrase about China, de-risking, not decoupling, and for three years it has struggled to show what the phrase means in practice. In mid-2026 that is starting to change.
At the European Council on 19 June, heads of state handed the Commission a clear political mandate to strengthen the bloc’s defences against Chinese industrial overcapacity and other forms of what Brussels calls unfair competition. The debate ran for more than two hours, which in European summitry signals a genuine argument rather than a rubber stamp.
The numbers behind the frustration are stark. The EU’s trade deficit with China has swollen to roughly 360 billion euros a year, close to a billion euros every day. Behind that figure sits a pattern European manufacturers know well: heavily subsidised Chinese capacity in electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries and now chemicals, produced far in excess of Chinese demand and pushed onto world markets at prices domestic rivals cannot match.
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Yet the [European] Commission is careful to keep the door open. De-risking was always meant to reduce exposure, not to sever a relationship worth hundreds of billions in two-way trade.
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Beijing, for its part, reads every tariff as provocation and has warned of retaliation against European farm goods, spirits and luxury exports.
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What has shifted in 2026 is not the slogan but the resolve behind it. Europe has stopped debating whether Chinese overcapacity is a problem and started arguing about how forcefully to answer it. For a bloc that prizes consensus and caution, that is a meaningful change of gear.
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Imperial capitalism. Not so funny when you are on the receiving end, eh?
Tl;dr - European companies are mad, because they cannot compete with their Chinese rivals.
Aside from industries where Chinese companies cut costs by abusing workers - I don’t see why I should pay more just so a European billionaire can get richer, instead of a Chinese one.
Some of the aforementioned industries where Chinese companies fail to uphold reasonable working conditions and ethics are already sanctioned on an EU level.
Let’s include more violating companies on that list, and leave the rest as it is. No European should pay more for the same quality and same ethical standards.
If European companies cannot compete on equal terms - by the market’s rules they should go out of business. Innovate and improve, or go bankrupt.
No European should pay more for the same quality and same ethical standards.
Yeah, but Chinese companies don’t have the same ethical standards. Neither do they have safety standards. That’s the point.
Everything that gets imported into the EU has to pass the exact same safety tests as everything made inside the EU. That’s literally what the regulation states.
- https://www.tuvsud.com/en/industries/manufacturing/machinery-safety
- https://www.ynypm.com/news/policy-regulation/rade-regulations/EU-s-Revised-Machinery-Regulation--Key-Impacts-and-Industry-Response.html
As for ethical standards - as I said, sanction companies that do not come close to European standards and severely violate workers’ rights. If they meet them or are relatively close - nothing needs to be done.
China has been circumventing European safety and technical standards in all sectors, including in consumer sectors (Temu, Shein, AliExpress, …).
Ethical standards are even worse, and China is blocking any attempts for transparent supply chain. China doesn’t appear to be even willing to play by the rules.
One recent example comes from Italy: Italian machine tool sector wants tougher EU trade rules on China, demands same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers
Just like I replied to you in a different thread… Temu, Shein, and AliExpress do not sell industrial machinery.
The link you provided is an article about what a European corporate lobby says and wants. Lobbies are not trustworthy or reliable sources of information.
Any sources for any of the other claims made? How is China circumventing the safety standards?
Any sources for any of the other claims made? How is China circumventing the safety standards?
There is ample evidence for this, some of the reports have been even posted here on Lemmy.
Apparently not ample enough to post it lol
Demanding articles that can easily be found across the web in high numbers doesn’t add to the debate culture here.
These are some I found found for you in less than a minute:
June 2023: Systemic failures in product compliance on TEMU and Shein
August 2024: Shein and Temu products found to contain high levels of toxic chemicals
June 2025: EU commissioner shocked by dangers of some goods sold by Shein and Temu
Here is a report for several unsafe and poisonous products sold on Temu, Shein, AliExpress: https://www.beuc.eu/sites/default/files/publications/BEUC-X-2025-007_Tests_of_Temu_Products_by_Consumer_Groups.pdf
Feel free to search more for yourself.
Countries are selfish as always. But you can’t argue that whole world operates within same constraints and legal frameworks.
don’t see why I should pay more just so a European billionaire can get richer, instead of a Chinese one.
Because it will save European jobs, who will pay taxes in Europe? Because they will obey environmental laws? Because the European billionaire’s company will pay taxes in Europe? (Ok, the last one was a joke)
I don’t see why I should pay more just so a European billionaire can get richer, instead of a Chinese one.
Because European jobs are on the line.
I’d rather buy European.
On a greater scale what you say is not happening. And that is the reason why the EU has this trade deficit.
EU needs to become self sustaining. And only import what complies to the same rules EU industries abide by. At least as far as possible
European jobs aren’t on the line because Chinese companies are better at capitalism than European ones are.
European jobs are on the line, because European companies have been prioritizing nothing but shareholder value for the last 100 years.
If you really think buying European will lead to more jobs and/or better pay for European workers… Boy, are you in for a reality check.
I really wish what you’re saying was the case, but it isn’t. The EU is currently ruled by American assets, and European corporations are just as bad as American ones. The only difference is that they have more regulations to worry about. They’ll do anything they can get away with to avoid hiring more workers or paying current ones more.
What’s your alternative, then? Just surrender to the status quo and buy Chinese stuff that doesn’t even comply with EU regulations?
I’m not telling anyone what to do, just sharing my personal perspective. Which is to prioritize my own wellbeing over trying to fix the EU’s systemic issues.
Honestly, I can’t see any realistic solution to the EU’s current problems. It took over half a century to realize that the problems exist. And even though they’re finally acknowledged - nobody is really doing anything significant about them. Just some half-assed pretend solutions.
Aside from industries where Chinese companies cut costs by abusing workers
Why should I assume that they only do it in certain industries? Is there even a single chinese factory worker working under the same conditions as a european one?
People deserve to not be exploited by their employers, no matter if that means they can “compete” against those that still are. “Competing” in this case only means to be better at making the owning class richer. I don’t want to “compete” in a race to the bottom. I want Chinese workers to enjoy the same rights, reasonable hours, PTO, social securities and living standards as I do. Then we would have actual equal footing.
