European companies ‘becoming more reliant on China, not less’, EU chamber chief says

Jens Eskelund tells conference in Berlin that Beijing can raise costs of confrontation beyond what other side is willing to bear

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Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, at a news conference in Beijing in April. Photo: DPA

Published: 2:14pm, 2 Jul 2026Updated: 2:20pm, 2 Jul 2026

Europe’s push to reduce its dependence on China is driving many of its companies deeper into Chinese supply chains, according to the head of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

“Europe is becoming more dependent on China, not less,” chamber president Jens Eskelund said, adding that for European firms, staying competitive increasingly meant embedding themselves more deeply in the supply chains Brussels wanted them to move away from.

He said Europe had fundamentally misread what China meant for European business, because it was no longer just a market where European firms made money, and instead had become an indispensable part of their global supply chains.

Citing the results of a survey of nearly 300 chamber members in January and February, Eskelund said Europe was seeing “the highest-ever share of European companies onshoring more into China”. Fifty-six per cent of respondents said they were increasing onshoring in China, while just 7 per cent said they were only increasing offshoring.

That dependence was increasingly driven by cost, he said, with Chinese supply chains having become so competitive that integrating into them was often the only way to produce the best products at the lowest cost.

Eskelund was speaking at a two-day economics conference in Berlin hosted by the Kiel Institute that followed Monday’s trade talks in Brussels between Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

European companies ‘becoming more reliant on China, not less’, EU chamber chief says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Jens Eskelund tells conference in Berlin that Beijing can raise costs of confrontation beyond what other side is willing to bear

Jens Eskelund tells conference in Berlin that Beijing can raise costs of confrontation beyond what other side is willing to bear