(BEIJING) - European Commission President Manuel Jose Barroso said he agreed in talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Friday on the need to balance trade, an apparent reference to China's huge trade surplus.

"We both agreed on the necessity to rebalance our bilateral trade," Barroso told reporters.

The EU trade deficit with China in 2007 was 159.16 billion euros, according to EU figures, up from 131.07 billion euros in 2006.

Barroso is leading a major EU delegation to China to discuss topics ranging from climate change to intellectual property rights and set up a recurring high-level economic dialogue between the two sides.

Barroso also was expected to press China to further open its markets to European investment and businesses, and better protect intellectual property rights.

European businesses were also keen to see China revalue the yuan, which is currently languishing at record lows against the euro.

Those objectives, however, have been somewhat overshadowed by differences over Tibet.

Protests rocked Tibet last month, highlighting continued anger with China's rule of the region.

The EU parliament earlier this month urged European leaders to boycott the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing on August 8 unless China opens talks with the Tibetan exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

China has refused, accusing the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the unrest.

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