Last Saturday, French President Francois Hollande called out the European Union to work with China for a balanced resolution to prevent a trade dispute from escalating any further. The dispute began with solar panels but has then expanded into European wines.

Hollande spoke before a conference with representatives of Japanese businesses in Tokyo, where his agenda was to sell more French products to the Chinese businesses. He did add however that there needs to be clear ground rules as well as more cooperation and coordination between the two trading entities.

He said, "We need to work with China... to develop our economies but also to define rules, principles and to open new areas of cooperation. We need to resolve our trade problems with China through discussion, without advantages being given to one country over another."

This week, Chinese authorities have commenced an anti-dumping investigation into the sales of European wines. This is seen as a retaliatory measure after the European Union moved to impose duties on solar panels imported from China.