There’s growing alarm among European leaders over the flood of Chinese exports threatening their home-grown industries, and their response could resemble something from President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Frustration is boiling over as China’s goods trade surplus with the European Union hit 360.6 billion euros ($414 billion) in 2025, up 15% from 2024. And in the first four months of this year, the gap has expanded by 10%.
In fact, French President Emmanuel Macron even suggested a course of action that’s straight out of Trump’s own playbook.
“We must take protective measures, safeguard measures,” he said last month, calling for “the European equivalent of Section 301.”
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the U.S. to impose tariffs in response to unfair or discriminatory trade practices. After the Supreme Court struck down the global duties Trump levied last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, he plans to use Section 301 as the linchpin of his crackdown on trade deficits.
Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium reportedly backed Macron’s call for new EU powers to quickly impose tariffs on China.
And in a separate joint paper, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania called on the EU to explore a new measure to limit over-reliance on a single country, possibly entailing new tariffs or quotas.
To be sure, the bloc imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs in 2024 while also launching anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes against Beijing. But the investigations are dragging on, and the EU’s biggest safeguard measure must be applied globally, meaning trade partners in good standing would be affected as collateral damage.
For now, the EU is holding off on taking a more aggressive stance, fearing Chinese retaliation, and will instead focus on dialogue while proposing a new law to diversify sources of key supplies.
But the EU still faces a massive trade imbalance with China, putting it in a situation similar to the one the U.S. was in leading up to the “Liberation Day” shock last year. While Europe was hit with U.S. tariffs, Trump primarily targeted China. Beijing hit back with its own duties as well as restrictions on rare earth exports.
Both sides have maintained a ceasefire, but Chinese exports are overwhelming markets elsewhere as U.S. trade barriers are still high.
With the old global trade regime in shambles, European officials lamented the new world order.
“We live in a world of wolves now. We no longer live in a world of pink ponies and rainbows,” one EU diplomat told Reuters this week.
The U.S., Europe and other top economies have long urged China to rebalance its growth toward consumer spending and away from over-reliance on exports.
But Beijing has continued promoting key industrial sectors, and with domestic demand still lethargic, Chinese companies have shipped excess supply overseas, often undercutting local producers.
At the same time, China has moved up the value chain, meaning its latest export surge is threatening higher-end industries in Europe, Japan, and South Korea.
Last summer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused China of distorting trade and limiting access for European firms. And in the fall, Macron warned the EU may hit China with tariffs to address the trade gap.
But the law the EU will propose would require companies to diversify their supply chains, as von der Leyen complained that earlier efforts hadn’t compelled businesses to act fast enough.
At the same time, European officials noted the EU is also taking too long.
“Back in November, we were talking about how the China situation was intolerable and how we had to take action,” a senior EU diplomat told the Financial Times. “And here we are again, talking about the same thing.”
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