The EU is once again running a trade deficit with China exceeding €1 billion per day as imports surge and exports decline. In January 2025, EU exports to China fell 13% year-on-year, while imports from China surged 22%, pushing the trade deficit to €31 billion.
The Global Times, a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the CCP, executes a classic maneuver: disguising an order as a ‘reflection.’ The propaganda mouthpiece portrays the EU’s so-called ‘mindsets’ as flawed, only to push it toward the inevitable ‘right’ choice—continued dependence on Chinese products. Wrapped in rhetorical fog, yet the message remains unmistakable
“… most EU countries find it practically impossible to ‘cut ties’ with Chinese products …,”
subtly pushing for continued reliance.
Doubling down on net exports as the engine of economic growth, aiming to alleviate domestic overproduction by exporting the excess abroad—this cannot end well
Two icons of the EU beverage sector, wine and spirits, are facing a downturn in exports to China, signaling tough times ahead for this once-thriving market
The latest EUROSTAT data shows that Greece’s exports to China increased by nearly 400% year-on-year in January 2025, driven by a large shipment of refined light oil.
In general, reconciling trade between Greece and China is an excruciating task. Check it out.
The share of hybrid imports increased to 35% from 11% a year ago. Pure electric cars dropped to 64% from 88% in January 2024. Plug-in hybrid imports doubled those of non-plug-in hybrids
In 2025, Chinese automakers are intensifying their shift toward exporting hybrid cars to the EU, aiming to mitigate the impact of tariffs on pure electric vehicles. Despite a surge of over 500% in hybrid exports, the increase has not been enough to compensate for the sharp decline in pure electric vehicle shipments.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles are set to take the top spot in 2025 as their exports continue to rise.
China’s investigation into pork imports from the EU remains unresolved, but trade dynamics are shifting. In January 2025, swine offal accounted for 60% of total exports, up from 57% a year earlier, while premium cuts fell to 40% from 43%. Offal exports grew by 13% year-over-year, while pork meat shipments declined by 2%.
László Botka, the Mayor of Szeged, claims there is a need for 10,000 workers.
‘I do not want to create false illusions,’ Botka says, ‘but our city will definitely see a large number of workers from China.’
Oddly enough, Hungary’s withholding tax on dividends, interest, and royalties with China is among the highest of all EU Member States.
Source
Xi first visited Viktor Orbán in 2011, and both have shared more than a decade in power. The first official visit of Xi as the head of China was in 2015.
While Hungary’s exports to China have declined, China’s surplus with Hungary has more than tripled since that visit, reaching an all-time high in 2024.
According to Chinese premier addressing foreign investors,…
We have preparations for possible unexpected shocks, which of course mainly come from external sources
It is a rhetorical move to preemptively assign blame elsewhere, subtly dismissing domestic structural issues and implying that any disruptions are imposed, rather than stemming from internal economic weaknesses.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics published the retail sales growth for January–February 2025 on March 17. It reported that total retail sales of consumer goods reached 8,373.1 billion yuan, up 4.0% year-on-year. The bureau also stated that the growth rate reflects nominal growth. However, our calculation indicates a growth rate of 2.98%
