Beijing says it wants to import more French products

by Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) – China promised on Monday to import more high-quality products and services from France, after a European investigation into Chinese electric vehicle exports, backed by Paris, threatened to trigger a trade conflict between the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a joint news conference with his French counterpart, Stéphane Sejourné, that China hopes Europe’s risk reduction policy does not target specific countries and did not violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Wang Yi stressed that decoupling from China poses the biggest risk.

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“We are constantly easing market access, including promoting cross-border data flow,” Wang Yi said, adding that China would do more to address French companies’ market access concerns.

Stéphane Sejourné said France would continue its discussions on eliminating risks with China and that this did not mean the European Union would take protectionist measures.

Last year, the European Commission opened an investigation into whether China’s electric vehicle industry had benefited from unfair subsidies and whether higher tariffs should be imposed on imports of Chinese electric vehicles in order to protect European car manufacturers, an initiative encouraged by Paris.

In response, China launched an anti-dumping investigation into spirits imports from Europe in January, the overwhelming majority of which come from France.

(Reporting Laurie Chen)