China ‘most challenging trade partner’, says EU’s next trade chief
Maros Sefcovic, close ally of bloc’s hawkish boss, also vows to crack down on mainland-exported overcapacity ‘with all our force’
Maros Sefcovic, regarded as a close ally of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, stuck closely to the tone established by his hawkish boss over the last three years during a three-hour grilling by members of the European Parliament on Monday.
By his account, he said he had told his counterparts from Beijing that the EU “cannot tolerate where subsidies are aimed to preserve Chinese jobs at the expense of jobs for Europeans”.
Describing China as “our third biggest and most challenging” trading partner, Sefcovic vowed to “rebalance” ties and be “more assertive in challenging structural imbalances and unfair practices” including “non-market policies driving overcapacity”.