China and the EU have reached an “understanding” on controlling a flood of Chinese hybrid vehicle exports into Europe, Beijing said on Friday, as the two sides try to prevent a full-scale trade conflict.
Beijing’s commerce ministry said in a statement that the understanding was one of 16 points of agreement reached during two days of talks with the EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič , who is seeking to reduce China’s €1bn-a-day trade surplus with the bloc.
“Following intensive consultations, the two sides reached an understanding on trade in hybrid vehicles in a manner consistent with [World Trade Organization] rules,” the ministry said, in what it described as a “joint statement” by the two sides.
The European Commission declined to comment on the statement pending a press conference by Šefčovič scheduled for Friday evening in Beijing.
Šefčovič’s visit, which included talks with China’s economy tsar, vice-premier He Lifeng, and commerce minister Wang Wentao, came after the EU set an October deadline for agreement on ways to reduce China’s trade surplus.
European capitals, led by Paris and Berlin, are growing increasingly concerned that low-cost Chinese imports are costing the bloc tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
On the eve of the talks, the FT reported that China had rejected an EU request to limit exports of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, shipments of which have surged in the wake of tariffs on Chinese battery-only EVs. Diplomats briefed on the European Commission’s plans said it hoped to get Beijing to accept a unilateral EU measure to cap hybrid imports instead.
Exports of Chinese hybrids to the EU grew more than 10-fold from 3,800 vehicles in October 2024 to 50,000 in July 2026 and average prices are falling.
European officials have said that a deal on hybrid cars is the minimum requirement for the EU to continue with dialogue rather than resort to trade defence measures.
China said in its statement on Friday that the two sides “reaffirmed their commitment . . . to properly handle differences within the framework of WTO rules, and to continuing to stabilise and balance bilateral trade and economic relations”.
This week, France and Germany proposed introducing a last-resort trade instrument that could cut off China’s access to the EU’s single market in response to coercive measures, such as restrictions on critical materials.
In a letter to the European Commission, the countries cited the “weaponisation of trade, systemic market-distorting practices and global macroeconomic imbalances”, without naming China.