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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Lisa O’Carroll Senior correspondent

EU faces 300,000 factory job cuts as China ‘colonises’ supply chains, industry warns

An employee works on a glowing steel element that has been heated in a classic natural gas-fired furnace at a plant in Germany
A steelworker in Germany. In June the EU introduced higher tariffs on imports of foreign steel. Photograph: Thilo Schmülgen/Reuters

Job losses in EU manufacturing will rapidly increase unless Brussels stops the “colonisation” of industry by Chinese component manufacturers, a leading industry trade body has warned.

Eurometal predicts 300,000 job losses in manufacturing in the rest of 2026 because of expanding competition from China, which is now enjoying a record €1bn-a-day trade surplus with the bloc.

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