Despite the ongoing conflicts over state subsidies and other trade-related issues between the European Union and the People’s Republic of China, in 2024 Beijing proved its willingness to foster and improve its trade relations with many European countries. Among them, Spain has been active in recent years towards strengthening bilateral exchanges with China, as demonstrated last month when Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made an official visit to the Asian country from September 8 to 11.
As China’s fifth-largest trading partner within the EU, Spain has a strong interest in promoting mutual openness in the trade environment between the two countries, with a total trade volume that in 2023 reached 48.58 billion US dollars. Economic ties have been strengthened in recent years with a series of agreements, including a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in force since 2008, a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTA) in force since 2021, and a Social Security Agreement, effective since 2018. The latter is an agreement that, for example, other European nations like Italy do not have with China.
One of the purposes of Sánchez’s visit was to reinforce mutual investments across a variety of sectors: in this direction goes the deal announced by the Spanish delegation, valued at one billion dollars, signed with the Chinese Envision Group to build a new hydrogen equipment factory in Spain.
At Feliu N&I, we are very pleased with this close cooperation between Spain and China, as we have highly competitive partners in China, allowing us to promote the internationalization of Spanish companies in the Chinese market.
