European leaders have been meeting their Chinese counterparts at the tenth annual trade summit in Beijing. Behind the handshakes, there have been tough talks on how to ease European concerns over an imbalance in business relations between the two. Europe's trade deficit is expected to increase by 30 percent this year to 170 billion euros. With every hour that passes, that gap gets an estimated 15 million euros wider.

On top of thorny issues such as improving product safety and fighting copyright piracy, the hot topic is the Chinese currency, the Yuan. Europe's finance chiefs believe the Yuan is being kept deliberately weak by Beijing, helping China's products inundate the European market.

And there is little flowing in the opposite direction. According to Europe's trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, Switzerland with its 7.5 million inhabitants buys more from Europe than China, whose population is around 1.3 billion.

euronews


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