China/EU discussions planned on currency and trade
Following talks between China’s premier Wen Jiabao, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Portuguese prime minister, Jose Socrates, China and the European Union (EU) have agreed to open a dialogue on trade disputes and the reform of the Chinese currency next March during the China-EU Summit in Beijing.
In response to Europe’s claims that the Chinese currency is under-valued and is the cause of the huge deficit between the trading partners, speaking after the meeting, Wen Jiabao announced that China will relax controls on the exchange rate to allow for more market determination and a wider trading band. However, he insisted that other factors were also to blame for the current trade imbalance.
Meanwhile, new trade figures released on the same day as the talks revealed that the EU remains the main market for Chinese goods and that exports to the region increased a massive 30.7% in the first ten months of 2007 and accounted for 20.1% of all exports from the Asian powerhouse.
