Amid the European Union (EU) threatening to impose a tariff bomb of up to 48% on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), China has embarked on the countdown for retaliatory measures. There are suggestions that retaliatory tariffs might be imposed on products including dairy and pork from the EU.
On the 13th, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce of China He Yadong stated in a briefing in response to reports of the Chinese industry applying for an anti-dumping investigation on EU dairy products and pork, “According to Chinese laws, regulations, and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, the Chinese domestic industry has the right to apply for an investigation to maintain a normal market competition order and legitimate interests.” He added, “The authorities will conduct a review according to the law in response to the request of the domestic industry.”
He further added, “If the conditions for an investigation are met, the investigating agency will initiate the acceptance procedure and disclose and announce to the to the public per the law.”
China has already started an anti-dumping investigation on European brandy such as cognac earlier this year as a response to the EU initiating an anti-subsidy investigation on Chinese EVs last October. French cognac accounts for 99.8% of the brandy exported by the EU.
It was also reported that China’s pork and dairy import industry was preparing to apply for an anti-subsidy investigation on European products at that time. This decision was made with European countries like Spain and Denmark in mind as they have a high dependence on China for their pork and dairy export industries.
Earlier on the 12th (local time), the EU announced that it would impose an additional tariff of up to 38.1% on Chinese EVs, eight months after initiating an anti-subsidy investigation on them. The announced tariff rate is applied in addition to the existing tariff (10%), effectively threatening a tariff bomb of up to 48%. The additional tariff will be temporarily imposed starting next month and will be finalized through a vote by EU member states in the second half of this year.
Currently, France and Spain support the additional tariff, but Germany, Sweden, and Hungary, which have established cooperative relationships with the Chinese EV industry, are opposed. For the EU’s tariff imposition decision to be overturned, at least 11 countries, in addition to these 3 must oppose it.
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