China's commerce minister has accepted an "urgent" invitation to Brussels, the EU's trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday, as the bloc looks to unpick Beijing's restrictions on rare earth mineral exports and defuse a row over Dutch-based chipmaker Nexperia.

Beijing is fighting to limit the damage from a pattern of price wars and excess capacity across multiple industries.

"Perhaps of greatest concern for China is the software used in advanced manufacturing – Western companies control over 70% of the Chinese market for chip design software, for example."

China's economy delivered a mixed performance in the third quarter of 2025. On an annual basis, GDP growth eased to 4.8% from 5.2% in Q2, marking the slowest year-on-year pace since the third quarter of 2024.

As more profits flow from overseas subsidiaries, a measure of total income earned by a country's citizens and companies worldwide. China's gross national product, or GNP, may eventually outpace its GDP, much like Japan after its asset bubble burst in the 1990s, according to Goldman.

Fixed-asset investment, which includes real estate, unexpectedly contracted 0.5% in the first nine months of the year as investment into infrastructure and manufacturing slowed.

China's economy likely grew at its weakest pace in a year in the third quarter, with the slowdown set to deepen and threaten the official growth target, a Reuters poll showed, raising pressure for fresh stimulus as a trade war with the U.

What it decides at this one will eventually form the basis of China's next Five Year Plan - the blueprint that the world's second largest economy will follow between 2026 and 2030. The full plan won't come until next year, but officials are likely to hint at its contents on Wednesday and have previously given more details within a week of that.