Talks with EU speed up amid headwinds

China and the European Union are accelerating negotiation of investment and trade deals amid agreement to defend the multilateral trading system, Vice-Premier Liu He said on Monday.

Both sides agreed to firmly oppose unilateralism and protectionism and prevent such practices from impacting the world economy, which could be dragged into recession, Liu said at a news conference after the Seventh China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue held in Beijing.

Liu said the dialogue was held as unilateralism and trade protectionism are on the rise and tensions have appeared in economic relations between major countries.