EU sets up three months of talks with China over €360bn trade deficit

Transport ships loaded with cars destined for overseas markets lie at berth at Taicang in China’s Jiangsu province. EU tariffs have failed to stem imports of electric vehicles. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

The EU and China have agreed to enter three months of talks to try to avoid a trade war over the bloc’s €360bn (£310bn) annual import/export imbalance.

In their first joint statement in seven years, the two sides agreed in Brussels to open a formal trade consultation after weeks of threats and recriminations from China if the EU imposed any measures to stop the flood of goods and components into the bloc.