Europe must do more to fight back against “massive” hidden handouts doled out by China to its industries, the European Commission president said, as the EU rushes to counter a swath of global subsidies that threaten its competitiveness.

Speaking after European leaders discussed how to respond to US president Joe Biden’s $369bn climate bill, which is wooing green businesses, Ursula von der Leyen said the EU also needed to do more to deal with Beijing’s support for its domestic industries.

“Where China is concerned we know they are giving massive subsidies, not only [to] the clean-tech sector but in general,” von der Leyen said in a press conference after a summit of EU leaders. “So the topic is much wider than our focus on [Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act]. Therefore we are developing a much broader strategy to deal with that.”