The EU and China held their 6th annual EU-China High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue on 19 October. Topics included macro-economic challenges, global economic governance and ongoing reforms in China and the EU. Bilateral issues included negotiations on investment, questions related to overcapacity in the steel sector and how to manage bilateral trade frictions in compliance with WTO rules, trade and market access, EU-China connectivity platform, digital and circular economy, and more. Read more in English.

EU is China's biggest trading partner, while China is the EU's second largest trading partner after the United States. Trade in goods between the EU and China is worth well over €1.5 billion a day, with EU exports amounting to €170 billion and imports to €350 billion in 2015.
The EU continues to be a top recipient of Chinese investment. There are indications that transactions could reach €27 billion in 2016, which would mean a growth of around 33% year-on-year. In the meantime, EU Foreign Direct Investment to China continues to drop as it remains below €1.8 billion for the fourth quarter in a row.

Jan Bureš, Chief Economist of Poštovní spořitelna writes in his recent article posted on the Euractiv.cz portal about Germany having been increasingly cautious about Chinese acquisitions of well-established and well-functioning (also key, technologically mature) German businesses. He mentions the possibility that EU rules for foreign investment may become stricter, as conditions for EU companies for investment in China are not as favourable.