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[Opinion] Europe's Patience With China's Factory Glut Runs Out
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this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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Tl;dr - European companies are mad, because they cannot compete with their Chinese rivals.
Aside from industries where Chinese companies cut costs by abusing workers - I don't see why I should pay more just so a European billionaire can get richer, instead of a Chinese one.
Some of the aforementioned industries where Chinese companies fail to uphold reasonable working conditions and ethics are already sanctioned on an EU level.
Let's include more violating companies on that list, and leave the rest as it is. No European should pay more for the same quality and same ethical standards.
If European companies cannot compete on equal terms - by the market's rules they should go out of business. Innovate and improve, or go bankrupt.
Because it will save European jobs, who will pay taxes in Europe? Because they will obey environmental laws? Because the European billionaire's company will pay taxes in Europe? (Ok, the last one was a joke)
Yeah, but Chinese companies don't have the same ethical standards. Neither do they have safety standards. That's the point.
Everything that gets imported into the EU has to pass the exact same safety tests as everything made inside the EU. That's literally what the regulation states.
As for ethical standards - as I said, sanction companies that do not come close to European standards and severely violate workers' rights. If they meet them or are relatively close - nothing needs to be done.
China has been circumventing European safety and technical standards in all sectors, including in consumer sectors (Temu, Shein, AliExpress, ...).
Ethical standards are even worse, and China is blocking any attempts for transparent supply chain. China doesn't appear to be even willing to play by the rules.
One recent example comes from Italy: Italian machine tool sector wants tougher EU trade rules on China, demands same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers
Just like I replied to you in a different thread... Temu, Shein, and AliExpress do not sell industrial machinery.
The link you provided is an article about what a European corporate lobby says and wants. Lobbies are not trustworthy or reliable sources of information.
Any sources for any of the other claims made? How is China circumventing the safety standards?
Why should I assume that they only do it in certain industries? Is there even a single chinese factory worker working under the same conditions as a european one?
People deserve to not be exploited by their employers, no matter if that means they can "compete" against those that still are. "Competing" in this case only means to be better at making the owning class richer. I don't want to "compete" in a race to the bottom. I want Chinese workers to enjoy the same rights, reasonable hours, PTO, social securities and living standards as I do. Then we would have actual equal footing.