Forty-four European industry associations on Thursday urged European Union (EU) member states to take immediate action against what they described as unfair Chinese trade practices, warning that they threaten European manufacturing and could lead to further job losses.

The call came a week before EU leaders are due to meet in Brussels to discuss ways to address the bloc’s growing trade deficit with China, which exceeds €1 billion ($1.12 billion) a day.

The associations represent several sectors, including metals, chemicals and automotive parts.

They urged the EU to make more effective use of its available trade defence instruments and adopt a broader approach that considers entire value chains, while avoiding adverse effects on close European partners such as Britain, Norway and Switzerland.