A Chinese flag flies over a Chinese customs building, at a terminal at Yantian Port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Oct. 30, 2025. Tingshu Wang | ReutersBEIJING – China’s Commerce Ministry has sent a strong warning to the European Union ahead of expected high-level talks in Beijing next week. China will “respond firmly” if the EU introduces restrictions on Chinese companies or products, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement late Tuesday, according to a CNBC Mandarin translation. The ministry said such actions, while China and the EU are in trade negotiations, would “seriously undermine mutual trust” and “disrupt” the negotiations. has been engaging in trade talks this summer, as Europe wants to reduce its record trade deficit with China by October. EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič warned in an interview with Euronews this week that Beijing must deliver “concrete results” by October or face “tougher measures.” He is expected to visit Beijing next week. Earlier this week, Noah Barkin of the Rhodium Group said Europe was considering measures to exclude China from the bloc. Citing European officials, he said Germany and France are finalizing a joint document that calls on the European Commission to accelerate the development of a tool that one official described as allowing Brussels to “isolate China from the European market within 24 hours.” Barkin said the measures could reflect the United States’ Section 301 tariff approach. The statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce said it was responding to Europe’s consideration of “301”-style tools. While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations overtook the EU in 2020 to become China’s largest goods trading partner, the EU’s trade deficit with China is the largest in the world, recently surpassing the US. That’s according to China Customs data accessed through Wind Information. When including services, the EU said it was China’s biggest trading partner, with combined trade of 880 billion euros, or almost $1 trillion, last year.
