Overview
- EU leaders, in a summit discussion on June 18–19, asked the European Commission to review current trade-defence tools and to design new instruments aimed at ‘de‑risking’ critical sectors.
- The measures under study include faster anti-dumping investigations, sectoral safeguards such as quotas or tariffs, procurement restrictions and a proposed diversification rule requiring multiple suppliers.
- A France-led group has pushed for a Section‑301-style mechanism and emergency tariffs while Germany has shifted toward support for stronger tools so long as they are not targeted at a single country.
- Brussels cites a roughly €360 billion goods deficit with China in 2025 and OECD findings that Chinese firms received far larger state support than OECD peers as the rationale for tougher action.
- Commission officials say any new measures will take months of legal design and legislation to implement and that officials will keep dialogue with Beijing, including a late‑June meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, to try to avoid escalation.