The European Union's top financial officials held talks Tuesday with Chinese leaders as they attempted to push Beijing to reduce its growing trade surplus and allow more flexibility in its under-valued currency, according to dpa. The EU team met Chinese officials one day before the annual EU-China summit in Beijing, amid signs of a rift between the two sides on the closely linked issues of China's trade and currency policies. The talks were led by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Juncker attended the talks as chairman of the eurozone's finance ministers' group. Serge Abou, the EU ambassador to China, said before the talks that China's currency and its growing trade imbalance with the European Union would be key issues for discussion. The appreciation of China's renminbi currency against the dollar, while it has fallen against the euro, helped push China's trade surplus with the European Union to a record 131 billion euros last year. EU officials expect the surplus to jump again this year, to about 170 billion euros.
