Most G20 members, including the European Union, signed a US-led joint statement calling for action to eliminate industrial overcapacity, a move experts say reflects a coordinated effort by Washington and Brussels to assemble a “multilateral coalition” to pressure Beijing amid growing trade imbalances.

In the statement, issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative on Wednesday, the US and 14 other economies agreed to “take effective actions” to address structural excess capacity in several sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors and solar panels.

Signatories included the trade ministers of Argentina, Australia, Canada, the EU, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Poland, Turkey, the UK and US.

China, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa – also G20 members – were not signatories.

The statement, which did not name China, also urged countries to end “non-market” policies and practices that distort markets and perpetuate excess production.

The agreement was reached on the sidelines of an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Trade Committee meeting. It came just days after G20 trade ministers failed to reach consensus on the issue at a meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Following the G20 meeting, China’s commerce ministry said most participating economies held differing views on excess industrial capacity, while Washington said only a “handful” of ministers had opposed efforts to establish a pathway for cooperation.

The joint statement meant the US wanted to “use the overcapacity narrative to assemble a multilateral coalition to put pressure on China”, said Zhao Minghao, deputy director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University. While this strategy had been pursued since the Biden administration, the US was amplifying it further now, he added.

At the same time, Europe wanted to use the statement to demonstrate a willingness to align with the US in pressuring China, Zhao said. “While US-Europe relations face significant challenges and their shared policy objectives are limited, pressuring China over capacity issues is one of the few areas where their goals genuinely overlap.”Similarly, Zhu Feng, dean of Nanjing University’s School of International Studies, said the statement marked “a clear attempt by the EU to capitalise on Washington’s current momentum to further suppress China”.

Zhu said the recent joint appeal by the leaders of France and Germany for tougher measures to address market distortions “aimed to further curb China’s production capacity”. He added that China should not assume it was just a “formal threat” from Europe, as it could turn into new trade measures.

In recent years, the US and the EU have objected to what they see as excess supply of some Chinese exports. In response, they have imposed tariffs on products ranging from solar panels to electric vehicles. Beijing has consistently pushed back on the claims. In response to the French and German appeal, a commentary published by state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday said that if the EU pressed ahead with discriminatory measures, China would “respond firmly” to defend the legitimate interests of its industries.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic was in Beijing on Thursday for two days of talks with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, seeking progress on efforts to narrow the growing trade deficit with China before a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next week. Zhao expected China to continue talks with the US and the EU, but warned Beijing could hit back if Washington and Brussels use the issue to impose “discriminatory” trade measures on China.