Automotive: China’s influence on EU industry increases, surpassing the US

Brussels – Europe’s auto industry is increasingly China-dependent. The last decade has seen the beginning of a trend in which Beijing’s influence in a sector that has always been strategic for the EU — in particular its biggest economy, Germany — has steadily increased, Eurostat highlights in its data and trends insight. An analysis of the domestic and foreign value added in the EU’s automotive exports reveals “an interesting trend,” according to the European Statistical Office. “China has emerged as a key player in the automotive industry, not only as a significant importer of EU vehicles but also as a crucial supplier of inputs required by the EU automotive sector for its export.

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In essence, the European Union sells to China and increasingly relies on China for materials to produce the cars sold globally. The situation, once again, demonstrates the increasingly delicate ties of economic dependence with Beijing. The control over European ports —  and, more generally, a growing presence in the economies of countries in the single-currency that raises the concerns even for the ECB — are anything but recent phenomena. Eurostat data only confirm once again Chinese expansionism in Europe.

This shift in the balance intersects with politics across the Atlantic. The United States has historically been the primary driver of EU value added in vehicle products, accounting for over 22 percent of the total domestic value added in 2015. In recent years, however, China has emerged as the leading final user, surpassing the United States in significance. This shift represents an increase of 7.7 percentage points in China’s share compared with 2015. This shift will likely affect EU-US relations when the new president, Donald Trump, takes office in the White House (January 20, 2025).