Person
Slovak diplomat and politician, European Commissioner since 2010 and a Commission vice-president; currently in charge of trade and economic security.
EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday to weigh trade steps on China after a €200 billion goods deficit in the first half of 2026. Importers and exporters of cars and other manufactured goods face possible new barriers, but the summit has not named products or a timetable.
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EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said China agreed to moderate hybrid and plug-in hybrid car exports to the EU, a cut that could top half. EU leaders still have the final say, so importers are planning around press remarks.
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Chinese automakers exported about 919,000 passenger vehicles in September, up 64%, as domestic sales fell 27% to just over 1.6 million. By our count that replaced roughly 60% of the volume lost at home, and the EU is now capping Chinese hybrids at 350,000 a year.
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China wants the EU to lift curbs on advanced chipmaking machines as envoys meet in Beijing over its 360bn-euro surplus with the bloc. Because those curbs were imposed at Washington's behest on security grounds, they are a hard concession for Brussels to offer.
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EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said a preliminary deal with China could cut Chinese electric and plug-in hybrid imports to the EU by up to 50%. Europe's side of the bargain has not been published, and leaders across the 27-nation bloc still have to approve the package.
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EU industry commissioner Stéphane Séjourné backed 46 critical-materials projects costing €21bn and warned a China trade crisis could come within months. Flagship status speeds permits without EU cash, and the new supply is due by 2030, years past the window he described.
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China and the EU reached an 'understanding' on hybrid vehicle trade at talks in Beijing but did not disclose its terms. Exporters and European suppliers now have a WTO-consistent label to plan around, and no cap or price floor they can put in a forecast.
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Maroš Šefčovič heads to China seeking a one-sector pilot deal, expected to cover cars, to curb hybrid exports that boomed after the EU's 2024 EV tariffs. For European carmakers and suppliers, the talks test whether a sector-wide limit can hold where a tariff on one powertrain let exports move to another.
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Yttrium's export rules survived the Busan truce, and the two shipments the United States has received since February's coating-line stoppages add up to 89 tonnes against a world market estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes a year.
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