Germany's Greens welcome EU action on 'subsidy tsunami' from China

The Greens in the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, have welcomed the tougher stance on trade adopted by the European Union towards countries such as China.

"The EU needs a rapid, cross-sectoral instrument to counter the tsunami of subsidies from Beijing," Sandra Detzer, the Green parliamentary group's spokeswoman on economic policy, told dpa on Saturday.

The EU summit in Brussels called on the European Commission to urgently develop new instruments to tackle trade imbalances. At the same time, the commission is to make effective use of existing EU instruments and continue the dialogue.

The call for the commission to act had been championed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron. They favour a new instrument that would enable a decisive response when non-European states cause serious and systematic distortions of the EU single market through political or economic means.

The proposal cites the immediate exclusion of a non-EU country from the single market as a possible extreme measure.

Detzer also praised an agreement between the EU and China to curb Chinese exports of hybrid cars to Europe. These vehicles combine a combustion engine with an electric motor and a battery, and have now become the largest market segment in the EU.

However, she warned against creating collateral damage in trade policy.

"If you're targeting China, you mustn't hit Japan, South Korea or the UK," she said. "Those who have supplied fairly up to now should retain their market access."