Frankfurt/Brussels, 7 October 2026 – Commenting on the negotiations between Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao, VDMA Executive Director Thilo Brodtmann says:

• “EU Trade Commissioner Šefčovič must secure concrete concessions in the negotiations with Wang Wentao: China must be persuaded through negotiations to end the unfair trade practices it has been engaging in for years, such as high subsidies and an artificially low currency.”

• “The EU should no longer allow itself to be strung along by China. If the negotiations fail to yield tangible results this time too, the EU must not shy away from taking targeted measures against China’s unfair trade practices.”

• “This is not about indiscriminately closing the European market to Chinese products, but about eliminating unfair practices that harm European industry.”

The VDMA’s position on China can be found here [1].

The VDMA represents 3,500 German and European companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and small and medium-sized enterprises. The companies employ a total of around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of whom are in Germany alone. This makes the mechanical and plant engineering sector the largest employer among capital goods industries , both in the EU-27 and in Germany. It accounts for an estimated turnover of around 900 billion euros in the European Union. Around 80 per cent of the machinery sold in the EU originates from a manufacturing facility within the single market.