Source: AFP
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for “a negotiated solution” at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to end the standoff between Beijing and the European Union.
Sanchez’s visit to China brought him into contact with top officials, including President Xi Jinping, and he called for “dialogue and cooperation” with the world’s second-largest economy.
The trip comes amid rising trade tensions between the European Union and China, largely over Beijing’s subsidies for its electric vehicle sector.
Speaking at the opening of the Spain-China Business Forum in Shanghai, Sanchez called for “a European Union and a China open to the world, beyond geopolitical and economic tensions.”
“That’s why we are betting on honest dialogue to resolve existing tensions, largely arising from the imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles,” he added.
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“And what do we propose from Spain? A solution negotiated and agreed within the framework of the WTO, which contributes to balanced and fair development and avoids trade escalation that benefits no one,” Sanchez said.
The European Commission, which oversees the bloc’s trade policy, announced last month that it planned to impose five-year import tariffs of up to 36 percent on electric vehicles imported from China.
The next day, Beijing said it would launch an investigation into EU subsidies for certain dairy products exported to China.
In June China launched an anti-dumping investigation into pork imports from the bloc in response to a petition filed by a local trade group on behalf of domestic producers.
The Iberian nation is the EU’s biggest exporter of pork products to China, selling more than 560,000 tonnes to the world’s second-largest economy last year for a total value of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), according to industry body Interporc.
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In the Chinese capital on Monday, Sanchez called on Madrid and Beijing to defend what he called a “fair trade order.”
“We must work together to resolve differences through negotiations, in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation and in multilateral frameworks,” he wrote on social media after meeting President Xi.
Source: AFP
