Europe needs a broader trade-defence toolkit against a mounting China shock
The European Union is experiencing a severe and accelerating ‘China shock’. We predict the EU’s trade deficit with China to reach €400 billion in 2025 – more than double the level before the pandemic – despite the euro area as a whole continuing to run a trade surplus of over €400 billion with the rest of the world. In this context, the China imbalance stands out.The imbalance traces back to pandemic-driven global supply-chain disruptions and the energy crisis price shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both of which caused producer prices to rise sharply in Europe. During the same per...