German experts urge EU to prepare tougher trade measures against China

Experts commissioned by Germany's parliament have recommended preparing tougher trade measures against China at European level.

"The EU should be able to retaliate if China escalates trade disputes," the first semi-annual report by the Commission for Reviewing Security-Relevant Economic Relations between Germany and China said. "Making access to the European single market conditional is a key lever, given China's export-driven economic model."

The commission comprises experts from 13 organizations, including academics, representatives of foundations, business lobbyists and trade unionists. The Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, voted to establish the body in November 2025.

The Federation of German Industries (BDI) is also represented on the commission. Its president, Peter Leibinger, wrote in a guest article for Welt am Sonntag that the EU must continue dialogue with China while firmly defending its economic interests.

Instruments to counter dumping and unfair subsidies must be applied more quickly, with less bureaucracy and more consistently, he said.

On Friday, the EU and China agreed that China would curb its exports of hybrid cars to Europe as part of a trade dispute.

Commission member Jürgen Matthes, of the employer-affiliated German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne, criticized the agreement.

"Countervailing duties on Chinese imports that threaten production in Europe would be a better and more targeted way to address the major distortions of competition caused by China," he told the Spiegel news magazine.

Such duties could strip Chinese manufacturers of artificial price advantages, he said.