{
  "id": 7355882,
  "title": "EU, China trade chiefs to hold call as talks near crunch time",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/eu-china-trade-chiefs-to-hold-call-as-talks-near-crunch-time",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-14T12:05:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Politico EU",
    "slug": "politico-eu",
    "url": "https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-and-chinese-trade-chiefs-to-hold-videoconference-thursday/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Commissioners for Trade Maroš Šefčovič and China's Wang Wentao are set to engage in a videoconference on Thursday, as reported by POLITICO. The call, scheduled for September 17, aims to bolster trade dialogue between the two nations, which have a trade deficit of approximately €1 billion per day. Brussels has been intensifying its engagement with Chinese officials throughout the summer to address this deficit. The EU's executive branch faces mounting pressure to showcase the outcomes of this heightened interaction with Beijing during an upcoming summit of EU leaders in mid-October. Just a day prior to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's influential State of the European Union address, in which she is anticipated to discuss China's impact on the EU's industrial sector, the videoconference will occur. A team of high-ranking Commission officials, headed by Director-General for Trade Ditte Juul Jørgensen, is scheduled to visit China before Šefčovič's own trip to Beijing in early October. Following the videoconference, Šefčovič will solicit input from European business leaders regarding the Commission's efforts to diversify critical supply chains away from China. He will also explore the potential development of a future \"diversification tool\" with them.",
  "summary": "The call comes amid heightened contacts between Beijing and Brussels to reduce the EU's huge deficit in goods trading with China.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}