Donald Trump returned from a two-day state visit to China with agreements for oil, soybeans, and 200 Boeing aircraft sales. However, European officials expressed doubts about whether Beijing takes EU concerns seriously, reports Brussels's EUobserver.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer stated that billions of dollars in agricultural sales were anticipated following the Beijing meetings and hinted that a one-year trade truce agreed upon last October could be extended. He noted there was willingness on both sides to continue the arrangement.

China had imposed restrictions on rare earth exports last year during a tariff war with the US but later agreed to a truce that was extended to the EU. At the EU-China conference, EU ambassador Jorge Toledo described relations as complex, combining partnership with competition and systemic rivalry.

Mr. Toledo indicated that Europe's future ties with China depend on whether its concerns regarding market access, subsidies, industrial capacity, raw materials, security, human rights, and Beijing's stance on Russia's war in Ukraine are taken seriously.

EU officials have long criticized Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles and restrictions on rare earths, as well as barriers to European firms seeking procurement contracts. Outgoing trade negotiator Sabine Weyand informed MEPs that China's imbalance in the production and consumption of rare earths was unsustainable.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has accused China of deliberate overproduction to depress prices for steel, aluminum, and cars. The EU's trade deficit with China rose to EUR360 billion (US$418 billion) in 2025, which Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez described as unbalanced and unsustainable.

French president Emmanuel Macron warned during a December visit to Beijing that the EU could impose tariffs if China failed to reduce its surplus, describing the situation as a global imbalance.