Abstract

China and the European Union (EU) are not only each other's most important trading partners, but also the starting and ending points of the "Belt and Road" initiative respectively. As a result, both sides rely heavily on the healthy development of China-EU economic and trade relations. By comparing the cases of trade disputes between China and the EU under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism over the past years since China's accession to the WTO, the paper provides an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of trade frictions between China and the EU, the main points of contention and causes. It comes to the conclusion that China participates in conflict resolution as a responder in a significant percentage of cases, although the success rate is low. The steel industry is the most common source of trade conflict between China and the EU. Meanwhile, anti-dumping and raw material export restrictions issues are the most important trade disputes. Furthermore, the paper discovered that the underlying causes of trade friction between China and the EU revolve mainly around three aspects: China's continued trade surplus with the EU, the narrowing gap between the economic strengths of China and the EU, and the shortcomings of WTO rules and dispute settlement mechanisms. To push bilateral relations to a new high point, China and the EU should look to the future and appropriately resolve existing bilateral disputes on the basis of mutual benefit.