Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao Holds Talks with Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy

Mars Finance News: On May 27, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao held talks in Beijing with Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany. The two sides exchanged views on topics including China-Germany and China-Europe economic and trade relations.

Wang Wentao noted that, recently, the European side has introduced a series of protectionism-toned economic and trade restriction measures, which have caused serious disruption to cooperation between Chinese and European enterprises. Both China and Germany are manufacturing powers, export powers, and trading powers; they are beneficiaries of economic globalization. They should jointly support free trade and multilateralism, serve as advocates of openness and inclusiveness, act as practitioners of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, and strive to be pioneers of innovation. China is willing to strengthen dialogue and consultations with Germany, expand the cooperation agenda, shorten the list of issues, and jointly promote China-Europe economic and trade relations to move steadily and go farther.

Habeck said that China is Germany’s largest trading partner and also one of the most important sources of foreign investment for Germany. The German government supports free trade, opposes “de-coupling and breaking supply chains,” and is willing to strengthen policy communication with the Chinese side to build a rules-based, stable, balanced, trustworthy, and future-oriented China-Germany economic and trade relationship. The German side supports the enterprises of both countries in further expanding trade ties and two-way investment on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and fair competition, and in deepening cooperation in fields such as the circular economy, digital technology, and artificial intelligence. (Ministry of Commerce website)