The European Union's plastics sector is the closest to possible new safeguard measures against surging imports, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Friday at an informal meeting of EU trade ministers in Dublin, Reuters reported. He said the European Commission was assessing the legal and economic requirements for opening proceedings, without specifying which products could be covered or when an investigation might begin.

Source: Reuters via MLex

Sefcovic said the EU's goods trade deficit with China reached almost €197 billion in the first half of this year — yaani about 19,700 crore euros in just six months — and ministers wanted negotiations with Beijing to go beyond hybrid vehicles to chemicals, machinery and agriculture-related products. Irish minister Helen McEntee said all member states were determined to support the Commission in dialogue with China.

Source: EU Perspectives

Reporting on the same meeting said the EU's 2025 goods deficit with China exceeded €370 billion — yaani about 37,000 crore euros — and could top €400 billion this year. Five EU countries had earlier filed a request to curb imports of PET, the plastic widely used in packaging, Reuters reported on October 14.

No new plastics measure was announced in Dublin. Sefcovic stressed the Commission wanted a solid economic and legal case before acting, and ministers favoured continued dialogue with Beijing while keeping trade-defence options open. Work on a hybrid-car safeguard was already under way, with provisional application targeted for early December, EU Perspectives reported.