The Chinese economy relies on strong export business. According to Zoll, the boom in artificial intelligence is also behind the recent increase. As a result, the demand for circuits, storage media or products for storing and transmitting electricity has increased, said Customs Vice Minister Wang Jun. Last year, the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA) also warned of a glut of cheap products from China.
Despite the increase in imports, China is heading for a record trade surplus. Wang expects imports and exports to continue growing in the last quarter of 2026; the value for the first three quarters has already climbed to $938.11 billion. China's trading partners criticize the imbalance and demand that Beijing boost domestic consumption. The reasons for the weaker domestic demand are the consequences of a real estate crisis, high youth unemployment and the poorly developed social safety net.
Compromise on car exports
China's exports to the Federal Republic also rose significantly by 31.4 percent compared to the previous year. Imports, on the other hand, only achieved an increase of 0.1 percent. China also exported significantly more to the EU (25.3 percent) than it imported from there (0.7 percent).
The EU accuses China of distorting competition. There has recently been an increasing number of voices in Europe calling for a tougher economic policy towards the country. France and Germany recently suggested that the EU Commission should be able to expeditiously exclude companies, industries and even entire countries such as China from the European market.
Beijing rejects the accusation that it is flooding European markets thanks to overcapacity. There is a gap in the development of imports and exports, especially when it comes to cars. Data from the Chinese Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows that only 1.63 million vehicles were sold in China in September - a significant decrease of 28.1 percent compared to the previous year. At the same time, manufacturers exported 923,000 vehicles, which corresponded to an increase of 73.2 percent.
In consultations between Brussels and Beijing last Friday, both sides agreed to adjust imports of hybrid vehicles from China. The number of hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars should be reduced by “several million vehicles” over the next four years, said EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.
"The fact that both sides are negotiating is a hopeful signal," said the head of the German Chamber of Commerce in East China, Michael Kern. For the more than 5,000 German companies in China, this means that the risk of escalation has initially reduced. Others see a brief respite for the auto industry, which is under pressure.
The US economist Michael Pettis pointed out that it was only an agreement in one industry. This agreement does not take into account the imbalance on the demand side in China or the EU's broader role in mitigating this imbalance and will therefore have little impact on the EU's manufacturing sector as a whole, he wrote on the online platform X.
