In her Sept. 16 State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union's widening trade deficit with China had reached a "tipping point," pledged to use "all tools at our disposal" to rebalance ties without specifying measures and announced a European corporation to stockpile critical raw materials, Reuters reported the same day. The day before, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin will back tough new measures against China's "unfair" trade practices at the Oct. 15-16 EU summit.