Šefčovič Visits China to Discuss "Rebalancing": The Protectionist Anxiety Behind the EU's "Unsustainable Deficit" Discourse

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a two-day meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao. According to France 24, Šefčovič positioned the core agenda of his visit to China as "rebalancing" (rebalancing) the so-called "unsustainable trade deficit" (unsustainable trade deficit).

However, the France 24 report did not disclose the specific scale or statistical methodology behind this deficit labeled as "unsustainable." A policy agenda christened "unsustainable" yet lacking data support requires, on its own merits, scrutiny of the criteria by which such a judgment is reached.

The automotive industry has been placed at a prominent position in this round of EU concerns. According to France 24, the market share of Chinese hybrid vehicles in the European market has climbed to 25 percent. The EU has repackaged this industry-level shift in the competitive landscape as a structural imbalance in bilateral economic and trade relations under the macro-discourse of "trade deficit."

It is worth noting that equating the bilateral trade balance directly with "unsustainability" is difficult to sustain on economic logic—the bilateral trade balance is shaped by multiple factors, including savings rates, exchange rates, the division of labor along industrial chains and consumption structures; a single year's surplus or deficit does not constitute a reliable yardstick for judging the health of an economic relationship. This framing resembles more a species of political rhetoric, pre-laying a discursive channel for possible subsequent restrictive measures.

Whether Šefčovič's trip will bring the announcement of new tariffs or anti-subsidy measures was likewise left unspecified in the France 24 report. The two-day meeting has yet to conclude, and the suspense remains suspended.

The official Chinese position on this visit has not surfaced in publicly available reports. Against a backdrop in which the EU holds the institutional upper hand and a ready policy toolbox, a meeting held in Beijing features an uneven structure of discursive power—the Chinese side, on home turf, is forced to absorb the one-sided accusation of being "unbalanced."