“We have to take steps to ensure that competition is fair and not distorted,” von der Leyen said hours before she, Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris.
She added that she had indicated to the Chinese president in previous meetings that the current market access imbalance is unsustainable and needs to be addressed.
In recent months, the EC, which is responsible for the European Union’s trade affairs, has opened several competition-related investigations against China.
Late last month, Beijing warned that the EU was damaging its image in response to the bloc opening an investigation into Chinese procurement of medical supplies.
Beijing has also been angered by an EU investigation into Chinese suppliers of wind turbines to the European market. Other studies focus on Beijing’s subsidies for solar modules, electric vehicles and trains.
On Monday, the EC president once again reminded the Community’s position that the EU must reduce its dependence on Chinese suppliers, but not completely isolate itself by blocking trade flows in the most important sectors or imposing sanctions on them.
“We are very clear about our relationship with China, which is not only one of the most difficult, but also one of the most important,” said U. Von der Leyen.
“I have met with President Xi twice in the past year [Jinpingu]we spent a lot of time discussing EU-China relations, from trade to climate, from global affairs to digital issues,” she added.
The EC president also drew attention to the problem of overcapacity in China and the fact that EU companies cannot compete with Chinese goods imported into the Community at very low prices.
“Currently, China is producing more than it is selling with the help of huge subsidies due to weak domestic demand. This creates an oversupply of Chinese subsidized goods such as electric cars and steel, which leads to unfair trade,” she said.
“Europe cannot support such market-distorting practices that could lead to the deindustrialization of Europe,” U. von der Leyen added.
She added that the meeting would encourage Beijing to address this excess capacity and said the EU would work with other rich and emerging economies “increasingly affected by Chinese market distortions”.
