Ahead of a crunch summit with China, the EU is complaining of ‘stinking fish’

Diplomatic sources vent frustration that punishing trade measures are still on the table, with few concessions from Beijing

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The European Union wants China to permanently remove its export restrictions on rare earth elements and magnets. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:59pm, 27 Jun 2025Updated: 5:51pm, 27 Jun 2025

A month out from a crunch summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the European Union, senior EU officials have landed on an unsavoury term to describe their trade ties with China: “the stinking fish”.

The analogy, used when briefing member state diplomats on progress in trade talks with China, refers to the European Commission’s frustration that each of its top demands from Beijing is around the removal of measures that were introduced to punish Europe or the US.

Brussels wants China to permanently remove requirements for licences to export rare earth elements and magnets put in place to punish the United States, but which caught European firms in the crossfire.

It is also asking for the removal of Chinese tariffs on EU brandy imports, slapped on as punishment for Brussels’ own duties on electric vehicles, and to end retaliatory investigations into dairy and pork products.

“You put a stinking fish on the table, and then you want me to pay you to take it away,” was how one of multiple diplomatic sources explained it this week when describing how the EC has framed testy ties with Beijing.

In Brussels and beyond, the stinking fish is beginning to catch on.