As a trade spat between Beijing and Brussels heats up, European Council President Charles Michel will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in person, an official told AFP on Thursday.
The gathering, which is taking place on the fringes of a Southeast Asian regional summit in Vientiane, comes days after China declared it would impose temporary duties on imports of European brandy, the most recent blow in an increasing trade of reciprocal penalties.
Major economic partners, China and the EU disagree over Beijing’s industry-specific subsidies, which Brussels claims unjustly push down the price of Chinese products, undercutting competitors in Europe.
An EU official told AFP that Michel will see Li on Friday morning at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the capital of Laos.
The 27-member bloc has decided to slap extra tariffs of up to 35.3 percent on imports of Chinese-made electric cars, infuriating Beijing which slammed the move as “protectionist”.
China retaliated by opening an investigation into brandy imports from the EU and imposing fresh taxes on Tuesday, claiming that European “dumping” was endangering its own spirit industry.
While Beijing is looking into EU subsidies of various dairy and pork products imported into China, Brussels is also looking into Chinese subsidies for wind turbines and solar panels.
