On 1 January 2025, European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met in Beijing for two days of negotiations. The talks took place amid deep‑seated trade frictions between the EU and China. The talks produced a preliminary agreement concerning the trade of hybrid vehicles, with both sides saying the arrangement aligns with World Trade Organization standards.
The discussions unfolded against a backdrop of a deep‑seated trade deficit that weighs heavily on European policymakers. The EU’s trade deficit with China reached 359.9 billion euros in 2025. It also cites a daily shortfall of roughly 1.000 million euros, which translates to about one billion euros per day.
One concrete outcome of the Beijing talks was progress on hybrid automobiles. Hybrid vehicles increased from 7 percent to 39 percent of automobiles imported from China.
Hybrid vehicles increased from 7 percent to 39 percent of automobiles imported from China.
The preliminary agreement reached in Beijing is said to be in line with WTO standards.
The two sides also committed to further discussions on tariffs and price commitments for electric vehicles.
The Beijing meeting produced a narrow but tangible outcome: a preliminary, WTO‑aligned agreement on hybrid vehicle trade, set against a stark backdrop of a multi‑hundred‑billion‑euro annual deficit and a daily shortfall of about one billion euros. While the share of hybrid cars in EU imports from China has risen sharply, broader concerns about subsidies, overcapacity, and the need for deeper tariff and EV‑related talks remain unresolved. The agreement marks a small step forward.