The EU is planning to tighten its foreign investment rules to ensure that Chinese companies do not gain advantage from the bloc’s open market without generating benefits for local workers and sharing technology.
The revised rules, which are still under discussion, are part of a series of proposals that the European Commission will make next month to bolster Europe’s ailing industrial base and flagging economic growth.
The influx of cheap Chinese products into the bloc, which has increased due to the knock-on effect of US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, is adding to pressure on industries, including steel and chemicals, that already contend with high energy prices and complicated environmental rules.