German Chancellor warns of limiting China's access to European markets

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at the EU summit this week. Photo: AFP.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, Angela Merkel said that China's  access to the European market will be limited in some areas. The EU expects reciprocity for the investment deal with China, and argues that there are too many barriers to access to the Chinese market. The German Chancellor affirmed that this issue will be discussed further.

 

The latest move shows that the EU is consistent with the US when the world's No. 1 economy recently called on its allies to turn their backs on China's Huawei technology group.

During the EU-China summit last month, the EU called on China to remove barriers to the bloc's businesses. However, the Chinese government has only committed to increasing imports of agricultural and food products from the bloc without empowering EU countries with market access.