Wang Wentao

A spokesperson for the Commerce Ministry said China is willing to facilitate the approval of export licenses for rare earths.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic recently held trade and investment consultations.

A report shows that European businesses in China are growing more confident.

According to the report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, 75% of companies surveyed say their China-based production is more efficient than operations anywhere else.

From 8th to 9th October, a delegation of European officials led by European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Valdis Dombrovskis traveled to Beijing for the second series of meetings held under the EU-China Trade and Investment Consultation, TIC, mechanism.

Commissioner Dombrovskis met with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Vice Premier He Lifeng as part of the visit.

Prior to his official meetings, Commissioner Dombrovskis had met with members of the European Chambers Advisory Council.

On 9th October, the EU and China issued a joint statement with a list of sixteen deliverables and understandings organized under the four pillars of trade and investment balancing, export controls, IPR, and WTO that were agreed upon during the first meeting under the TIC mechanism in June 2026.

China and the European Union reached an understanding on hybrid vehicles on Friday, October ninth, as their commerce chief concluded talks with an agreement to strengthen dialogue, dispelling fears of a full-blown trade war.

The EU's Maros Sefcovic and China's Wang Wentao agreed both sides would adhere to, quote, "procedures concerning company price undertakings," end quote, of hybrid cars, Beijing's Commerce Ministry said, citing a joint statement.

So here we have a joint statement, unlike when President Xi met with President Trump a couple of weeks ago.

It continues.

On October ninth, twenty twenty-six, the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and the State Council issued joint guidelines codifying Beijing's strategic feedback loop doctrine.

That doctrine is the logic by which critical mineral processing control flows into manufacturing dominance, then into research funding, then into next-generation technology competitiveness, and it was now enshrined at the highest level of Chinese state authority.

That same day, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic concluded Beijing negotiations with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and announced a package of trade understandings that gave Europe access to the licensing system China controls rather than a path out of the dependency that system produces.

It sounds to me, from what we just read there, that the EU is gonna remain completely dependent on China, and that China will always have the ace up its sleeve in any negotiation, at least until rare earths are produced independently.

"We have reached a shared understanding to moderate China's exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the European Union," European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told reporters in Beijing on October ninth.

"This opens the prospect of cutting China's exports by more than a half." The EU trade chief made the comments after two days of talks with the Chinese negotiating team, led by the Communist regime's commerce minister, Wang Wentao.

Sefcovic described it as a four-year plan, but declined to offer further details on how Beijing would slash its hybrid car shipments, which have increased sharply in the EU market.

"It is for the first time that China has accepted to moderate its exports without going through the phase of prior trade tension," Sefcovic said.

China says the outcomes from the second meeting under the China-EU trade and investment consultations show both sides have the willingness to properly handle differences through dialogue.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and the European Union's Trade Chief Maro Sefcovic recently concluded talks in Beijing.

An official from China's Commerce Ministry said the two sides believe stable and healthy bilateral trade relations are beneficial to businesses and the people, and will inject positive energy into global economic growth.

China and the EU reached a list of outcomes, covering trade and investment balances, export controls, intellectual property rights and the WTO reform.

China and the European Union have reiterated that they will properly handle differences under World Trade Organization rules and remain committed to stabilizing bilateral trade relations.

They came to that agreement of the second round of consultations between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic.

China and the EU reached a list of outcomes covering trade and investment balances, export controls, intellectual property rights, and the WTO reform.

The two sides will continue to explore the feasibility of lowering tariffs on some products.