Is the European Union getting a raw deal from its growing trade relationship with China? The answer depends critically on whom you ask.

The loudest voices say yes. Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, has repeatedly warned of rising discontent among European companies with China over unfairly cheap imports, an undervalued currency and disregard of intellectual property rights. Those complaints may not yet have reached the intensity of their US counterparts but Mr Mandelson warned last month that the EU was “sitting on a policy time bomb”.