”We need to have confidence in the outlook,” Wang said. He said the conclusion of trade negotiations between the US and China was ”good news” for Europe, as more negotiators could spend time on EU-China talks. In March 2014, Brussels agreed that after the conclusion of an investment agreement between the EU and China, it would consider wider trade negotiations with Beijing. Negotiations on the investment contract began a few months earlier, in November 2013. Once completed, the ILO will replace the 26 existing ILOs signed by China over the years by EU member states. The EU is in favour of opening trade relations with China. However, the EU wants China to act fairly, respect intellectual property rights and meet its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The ancient Silk Road consisted of a network of trails, mountain passes and ”twigs” used by daring traders to connect China and Europe through several intermediaries. There was no real infrastructure, only an almost infinite chain of local and regional secondary roads. Indeed, the Silk Road was not so much a ”road” as an expression of a determination to link markets and seek the added value of goods traded between cultures and stages of development. The European Union and China are two of the world`s largest distributors. China is now the EU`s second largest trading partner after the US and the EU is China`s largest trading partner. In some circumstances, trade negotiations with a trading partner have been concluded, but have not yet been signed or ratified.

This means that, although the negotiations are over, no part of the agreement is yet in force. This is something that Beijing is willing to compromise on. The new agreement comes at an important time to symbolize confidence, content and progress in the development of trade negotiations, market access and investment between the two sides. The European Commission reports annually on the implementation of its main trade agreements in the previous calendar year. Wang said that between 2001 and 2018, EU exports to China grew by an average of 14.7% each year, more than double the average growth in EU exports. But the EU is also increasingly attentive to China`s technology ambitions and unbalanced trade and economic relations with its member states. At the same time, the agreement came when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the UK to push London to toughen its stance towards China. As snub for the British government, Pompeo deliberately met with anti-Chinese MPs to discuss a point against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a meeting described as ”tougher” by the BBC. In doing so, he dispelled London`s concerns over the Harry Dunn extradition case and went into the airs for a press conference with his counterpart Dominic Raab in China, who had to deny to the media that Britain was not ”heavily armed” via Huawei. This is done in the midst of discussions on a trade agreement between the two countries.

These include strengthening international rules, particularly with regard to subsidies to industry; Negotiations on the investment agreement are concluded and barriers to market access are removed. The study was first published in 2016 by CEPS in the form of a CEPS pocket book containing small print. This version has been partially revised and updated. The study was conducted by Jacques Pelkmans of CEPS and the research was conducted by a team of trade specialists at CEPS, in collaboration with another team of researchers led by Professor Joseph Francois of the World Trade Institute (WTI) in Bern. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday (December 16th) called for free trade negotiations with the EU to begin in parallel with ongoing negotiations on an investment agreement.