China’s ‘Self-Reliance’ Drive Is Upending Trade With Europe

To understand Europe’s growing alarm over its trade deficit with China, consider a striking statistic: China now sends six containers of goods to Europe for every one it gets back.

That ratio has more than doubled in China’s favor over the last five years as Beijing’s drive for greater economic self-reliance has expanded the range of goods China produces at home instead of buying from abroad.

Jens Eskelund, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, cited those figures last month and provided a simple explanation for why.

“China makes everything,” he said.

That is the dilemma confronting Europe as its trade deficit with China exceeds $1 billion a day. European consumers and companies still want, and in many cases need, what Chinese factories produce. Increasingly, the reverse is not true.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/business/china-europe-trade-manufacturing.html