Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris on Sunday, kicking off a three-country visit to Europe, his first in five years. On the first leg of his tour, the Chinese leader met with French President Emanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, to discuss the war in Ukraine, China’s relationship with Putin's Russia and trade policy. China's subsidies for domestic EV makers were also high on the agenda, as the European Commission is currently investigating whether these subsidies give Chinese carmakers an unfair advantage over their European competitors in the fast-growing market for electric cars.
The European Union is a major export partner of China and its importance to the world’s largest exporter is only growing as tensions between the U.S. and China have resulted in a significant drop in U.S. imports from the world’s manufacturing hub. Exports play a pivotal role in fueling China's economic growth, serving as a cornerstone of its development strategy. Since its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has experienced a remarkable surge in export activity. Driven by its huge manufacturing sector and vast labor force, Chinese exports of goods have grown more than tenfold over the past two decades, climbing from less than $300 billion in 2001 to almost $3.4 trillion last year.
Among its most important export partners are the United States, the European Union and the ten ASEAN member countries, which overtook the U.S. as China’s most important export market in 2023, following a drop in U.S. imports from China amid rising tensions. New on the list of China's most important partners is Russia, which saw imports from China surge more than 65 percent since 2021, the year before its invasion of Ukraine.
All these economies rely on China for a wide array of goods, ranging from electronics and machinery to textiles and other consumer products as well as industrial supplies. The Covid-19 pandemic, which temporarily shut down the Chinese economy or parts thereof, highlighted the interconnectedness of the world economy and its reliance on China, as the effects of global supply chain disruptions reverberated for years.
