EU to impose tariffs on China’s products

Europe is to reinforce its tougher line against China by following the US in slapping tariffs on Chinese products that benefit from alleged subsidies.

The EU governments and some industries are supporting the slapping tariffs because the growing trade deficit with China is increasing 20 million $ an hour.

Some ways to achieve that are to ex-officio initiation of investigations.
Another way can be more anti-subsidy actions, for example: let the goods that are coming from China pay more taxes so that they have the same price or even more expensive than our own goods. The EU has avoided so-called “countervailing duties” in the past because by designating China a “non-market economy” it accepts that prices there are not set by free competition, making it hard to put a value on soft loans or benefits given to state-controlled enterprises.

However, Mr Mandelson proposes to use the measure against companies that have received “market” status in previous anti-dumping actions, for which more information is available.

The most sensitive anti-dumping cases have split national governments, often between the
liberal north, dominated by retailers, and the south, which has a strong industrial base.

Source

(Tom Van thienen)