Last chance saloon: EU presses China for a sign to prove trade talks can work

The European Union’s top trade mandarins depart for Beijing on Wednesday for two days of intensive negotiations but expectations in Brussels are measured as to what the talks will deliver.Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s trade chief, will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on Thursday and Friday – three months after their last encounter in Brussels, when the Europeans set an October deadline for signs of a rebalancing in the trading relationship.Non-stop working-level talks have proven difficult, with the lopsided trade balance showing little sign of narrowing. Indeed, Beijing’s enormous trading surplus with the 27-member bloc has expanded further in the intervening quarter.However, Beijing is believed to no longer outright reject the suggestion that there are problems in its trade ties with Europe.