Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open.
Europe was once the engine of the global car market. But now it finds itself trying to close the floodgates on an industry that has already been fundamentally disrupted.
It's a big task for two days of talks, but Europe's top trade envoy will take this on as he visits Beijing for high-stakes negotiations.
The top trade envoy for the European Union, Maroš Šefčovič, is in Beijing for a series of talks with Chinese officials.
The backdrop is tense. Europe has called for China to voluntarily reduce hybrid car exports into the continent, but authorities in Beijing have already slapped down the request, according to the Financial Times.