China’s relations with the EU are subject to some tension at the moment, as the Financial Times reports, with the possible trade implications of the European Green Deal a source of some of the concern. Carbon taxes on goods imported to the EU may apply, both as a means of encouraging other nations to adopt stronger carbon reduction policies and to ‘level the playing field’ for EU businesses subject to strict carbon emissions regulations. China’s envoy to the EU, Zhang Ming, has identified the trade in steel as a focus point for the impacts of a carbon border tax, saying “Some are asking whether such a tax is in line with WTO rules, or whether it’s going to lead to protectionism and trade tensions.” The EU has in the past levelled tariffs on Chinese steel (as well as from other nations), which may be to what Mr Zhang is referring. The wider picture of trade more generally between China and the EU is a larger source of tension, with Chinese businesses suspicious that the EU is becoming more protectionary, and EU businesses having long said that they are disadvantaged when doing business inside China.