China Hits Back at France, Germany Over Proposed EU Trade Tools

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French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday (October 5), calling for new legal instruments to respond swiftly and decisively to "serious and systemic distortions." The letter does not name any country, but it is widely understood to target China.

At the heart of the proposal: the Commission could activate countermeasures quickly — taking effect unless opposed by a qualified majority of member states — with a last-resort option of restricting access to the EU single market, covering practices from subsidies and dumping to currency manipulation.

China's Commerce Ministry responded on Tuesday, urging France and Germany to "refrain from encouraging the EU to resort to protectionist tools at every turn," adding that it hopes the two major economies will "uphold openness, cooperation and free trade" and avoid "going down the wrong path in the wrong way, only to ultimately suffer the consequences themselves." Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called the China-EU economic and trade relationship "mutually beneficial" and said Beijing hopes the EU will address concerns through dialogue and consultation.

The dispute comes just as EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic heads to Beijing to tackle trade frictions, and about 10 days before EU leaders discuss the Chinese trade imbalance at a Brussels summit. The Commission said it welcomed the Franco-German letter, calling it a valuable contribution to the debate.