00:00Jens Escalant, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, warned of a sharp rise
00:09in Chinese exports to Europe following Washington's announcement of sweeping import tariffs in
00:14April.
00:15Sifting trade from the US to Europe could have a significant impact on European industries,
00:21especially if imports from other countries are offered at low prices.
00:26We have seen in the first half how exports from China to North America have been declining,
00:31so I think you could perhaps term it a trade diversion.
00:36But I don't think it's the whole story.
00:38I think there are more elements to this sort of continued growth of Chinese exports to Europe.
00:43One is, of course, that you have a number of Chinese companies that are just very good
00:47at what they are doing.
00:48One reason for the jump, China's weak currency, the country's economy, is battling stagnant
00:53consumer demand and falling property prices, headwinds that are also squeezing European
00:59businesses in China.
01:01The latest survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China saw 73% say doing business there is
01:08getting harder year after year, with confidence at rock bottom.
01:12The pessimism that you see right now is primarily due to the state of the Chinese economy.
01:18We have seen that in many sectors there is very intense competition.
01:23You have oil capacity in some sectors.
01:26So we really think the Chinese government right now needs to focus on how do we get back to
01:31a situation where demand and supply are in better alignment than is the case today.
01:38Talking to Euronews, the EU business leader warned that if the current trend of trading balance
01:43continues, tensions with China are almost certain to rise, urging both sides to keep talking
01:50to reduce the risk for their economies.
01:53We want to have a clean light of sight, predictability, reliability are things really that we appreciate
02:01as businesses as we do our plans, we make investments and so on.
02:07And I think this present environment where you sort of have sky high tariffs and then they decrease
02:13and then one policy announcement is being made and then there is a reaction.
02:18All this volatility right now is something that affects business behaviors.
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