European Union Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, urged China to deliver promises to open up its markets to European goods and investments in order to avoid a protectionist backlash, the Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, China's vice minister of commerce, Yu Guangzhou, warned the EU that it shouldn't jeopardize a great future in bilateral trade with China by wrangling over the prices of Chinese exports. China's massive export surge has led to several trade disputes with Europe. In April, the EU slapped temporary tariffs on leather-shoe imports from China and Vietnam after an initial investigation found imports were unfairly subsidized by the two governments. Yu rejected the findings, warning that the extra duties would make it harder for China to buy EU products such as airplanes. "We have to sell eight million pairs of shoes to buy one airplane," he emphasized. China is pushing for the EU to give it market-economy status, which would give it more protection in these kinds of trade disputes. "Whether you acknowledge it or not, the market economy is a reality in China," Yu said. The EU is China's biggest trading partner, while China was the EU's second most-important partner in 2004 after the U.S.