Joint press statement by Commissioner Šefčovič and Minister Wang

On 29^th June 2026, Mr Maros Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security and Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency, and Mr Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, held the first meeting of the EU-China Trade and Investment Consultations (TIC) in Brussels.

The EU and China as key trade partners, agree that the main objective of the TIC is to strengthen dialogue at ministerial level on trade and investment policies with the view to stabilise and make our bilateral relationship more balanced.

During the first meeting of the TIC, the EU and China noted the importance of addressing the challenges affecting the bilateral trade relationship and agreed to seek practical solutions. Four initial workstreams under the TIC were identified:

• Trade and investment balancing
• Export controls
• IPR
• WTO reform

Commissioner Šefčovič and Minister Wang mandated officials to engage in the four workstreams and agreed to meet again at ministerial level in Autumn 2026.

During the meeting, they also agreed to establish a joint monitoring mechanism to exchange relevant data, monitor trade flows and support technical work with a view to improving transparency, enhancing mutual trust and managing trade frictions.

Both sides also agreed that increased market access measures and initiatives can contribute to the balancing of the trade relationship. Their discussion focussed on possible tariff or non-tariff initiatives to that effect, exchanged lists of market access issues and agreed to continue consultations within the trade and investment balancing  work stream with a view to making progress on specific concerns.

Both sides took note of the positive results to date of the EU-China Export Control Dialogue regarding rare earth elements and other critical materials and minerals, and intend to strengthen dialogue in this field.  The two sides discussed the value of continued exchanges of information on their respective regulatory frameworks and licensing policies. They acknowledged the need to strengthen the EU-China Export Control Dialogue and agreed on the need for further facilitation efforts aimed at maintaining the stability of global industrial supply chains.

The EU and China underline the necessity of strengthening bilateral cooperation in the WTO, advancing substantive progress on WTO reform, and improving the authority and effectiveness of the WTO. Both sides agree to further strengthen communication and cooperation in the WTO moving forward.

The two sides acknowledged the constructive exchanges in the EU-China Intellectual Property Working Group as the main channel for EU-China intellectual property related discussions at technical level. They discussed and agreed to address a number of systemic intellectual property issues, to enhance the efficiency, fairness and transparency of IP protection and enforcement.