Merz and Macron seek immediate EU trade action as 2025 China deficit reaches about €360 billion

The European Union reported a trade deficit with China of approximately €360 billion in 2025, a measure of the imbalance at the centre of a Franco-German call for immediate action.¹² German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron want the bloc to address that imbalance with stronger trade measures.¹ Their request covers safeguards for industries including chemicals and machinery, rather than only a general appeal to reduce the trade gap.¹ The two leaders argue that existing EU trade instruments cannot adequately meet the situation they describe, and have asked for action without delay.¹²

The appeal took the form of a joint submission from Merz and Macron to the European Commission on Monday.² It was sent shortly before EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic was due to travel to Beijing.² An EU leaders' summit is also scheduled for October 15-16, placing the proposal in a period that includes both a planned China visit by the trade commissioner and a meeting of EU leaders.² The appeal does not identify a country by name, though the account of the proposal says it appears aimed at China's trade policy and the United States under President Donald Trump.²

“Geoeconomic risks”Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron, Deutsche Welle top stories

The joint letter, addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, lays out two proposed measures.² One would encourage companies to diversify their supply chains and limit excessive dependence on a single supplier.² That proposal addresses supplier concentration by seeking more varied sources, rather than setting out a specific industry target or numerical threshold.² The other measure would allow a country to be excluded quickly from the European single market when exceptional circumstances warranted such a step.²

The proposed exclusion is linked to conduct by a country outside the EU that deliberately disrupts fair market conditions and causes major distortions within the single market.² The appeal therefore presents exclusion not as a routine response to trade differences, but as an option tied to the specified conditions of intentional disruption and exceptional circumstances.² The letter also describes the Union's problems with global competitiveness and its reliance on certain suppliers as sources of geoeconomic risk.² Together, the proposals address both the structure of supply relationships and the possibility of restricting access to the single market in a serious case.²

The document is a non-paper, an informal and nonbinding way of putting forward ideas and starting discussion within the EU.² Its proposals therefore set out possible tools rather than establish that either measure has already become EU policy.² Under the suggested process, the Commission could initiate action independently, while member states would retain the option to stop it through a qualified majority vote.² That voting threshold requires support from at least 55% of member states, representing no less than 65% of the EU's population.²

The proposed process assigns an initial role to the Commission while preserving a route for member states to block its action through the specified vote.² The proposal thus describes a decision-making arrangement, not a completed decision to exclude a country or apply a safeguard.² The leaders' stated concern is that the instruments already available to the EU are no longer sufficient.² Their letter links that concern to competitiveness difficulties and reliance on particular suppliers, which it characterizes as geoeconomic risks.²

The EU's reported 2025 deficit with China was approximately €360 billion, while China's statisticians put the deficit with the EU for the same year at $292 billion.² Those figures come from the two sides' own statistical accounts and use different currencies, so they should be kept distinct rather than treated as a directly interchangeable pair.² The reported amounts describe the trade balance between the EU and China, not the number of companies or industries affected by the proposed measures.² The appeal separately names chemicals and machinery as industries for which European leaders are seeking safeguards and other trade measures.¹

The EU depends particularly on China for rare earth materials, and relies on both China and the United States for high-tech imports and services.² That dependence gives the supply-diversification proposal a wider reach than the named concerns about chemicals and machinery alone.¹² It also connects the leaders' concern about reliance on suppliers to the EU's stated exposure in materials, imports and services.² The appeal's possible focus on China and the United States is consistent with its stated interest in supplier reliance and trade conditions, although it names neither country as its target.²

Beijing has warned that it could respond with its own measures if it considers the EU's plans necessary grounds for retaliation.² That warning places a possible response alongside the EU proposals, without establishing that either side has taken the measures described.² For now, the Franco-German submission is an informal proposal to the Commission, with two possible tools and a suggested process for Commission action and member-state review.² Its stated case rests on the trade imbalance, concerns about competitiveness and dependence on suppliers, and a claim that the EU's current instruments are inadequate.¹²