EU Policy Intelligence and Advocacy Go back »
2025-06-04 | All chapters
On 28th May, the EU Commission imposed anti-dumping duties of 13%-62% on imports of tinplate from China. The measures seek to protect the EU’s tinplate industry, which directly employs almost 5,000 people in five Member States, from being harmed by unfair trading practices (Commission news).
On 28th May, the Czech Republic condemned a Chinese state-backed hacking group of attempting to hack its Ministry of Foreign Affairs following an extensive investigation into the campaign, which it said began in 2022. China denied the allegations in a statement from its embassy in the Czech Republic (Politico, Chinese Embassy to Czechia statement).
On 28th May, the Beijing-based Ambassadors of the European Political Community (EPC) met at the European Union Delegation to China. The meeting was a joint initiative of the European Union Delegation, the Embassy of Poland, and the Embassy of Albania. During the meeting, European Chamber President Jens Eskelund presented the European Business in China Business Confidence Survey 2025 (BCS 2025) (EEAS news, European Chamber advocacy report).
On 28th May, representatives from Chinese and EU semiconductor enterprises met in Beijing, along with representatives from the European Union Chamber of Commerce China’s Ministry of Commerce and the China Semiconductor Industry Association. The aim was to strengthen stability of the global supply chain and bilateral collaboration to the backdrop of escalating tensions between China and the US over microchips (Chinese State Council news item, South China Morning Post).
On 29th May, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce expressed serious concern over the EU's anti-dumping probe into Chinese tires, citing an opposition to trade protectionism as it increases consumer costs and disrupts supply chains. MOFCOM urged the EU to resolve concerns through dialogue, while vowing to safeguard the rights of Chinese firms (MOFCOM press release, EU announcement of probe).
On 30th May, French Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher met with the Chinese Minister of Natural Resources Mr. Zhiou Guan and the Minister of Ecology and the Environment Mr. Runqiu Huang. Both sides agreed to a stronger EU-China alignment on climate action, amid a renewed US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and in the in the run-up to COP30 (French Embassy to China readout, China Briefing).
On 31st May, EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas expressed alarm over Russia-China ties amid North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned of increasing military and economic pressure coming from China, urging higher defence spending (Euronews, EEAS website full speech).
On 2nd June, the EU governments backed a European Commission proposal to put limits on Chinese medical device suppliers' bidding on public contracts after finding EU companies were not given fair access to China's public tenders, in about 90% of all investigated cases. The proposed measures will be the first under the EU's International Procurement Instrument (IPI), which is designed to ensure reciprocity. China called the EU measures discriminatory, a harm to Chinese companies and a disruption to fair competition (Reuters, Commission summary of IPI case, MOFCOM news item).
On 2nd June, French President Emmanuel Macron called for stronger coalitions between France/the European Union and Indo-Pacific countries as he warns of US-China divisions and fragmentation of the global multilateral order at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore. (Reuters, Global Times).
On 3rd June, EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič met Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on the sidelines of a WTO ministerial meeting in Paris to discuss bilateral trade topics in preparation of the upcoming EU-China Summit in July. It is their third meeting in 2025 (MOFCOM news item, Global Times, Maroš Šefčovič on X).
WATCH OUT FOR:
On 2nd - 22nd June, Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3).
On 6th June, EU-China Strategic Dialogue.
On 12th -13th June, International IP Enforcement Summit 2025.
On 12th -13th June, 10th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency.
On 13th June, EU-China Human Rights Dialogue.
On 16th -17th June, G7 summit in Alberta, Canada.
On 23rd June, Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.
On 26th -27th June, European Council meeting in Brussels.
In late July, EU-China Summit in China.