TMTPost -- Trade tensions between China and the European Union are intensifying.

Credit：the Global Times

China initiated an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork and pig by-products imported from the EU from June 17 Monday, according to a statement of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) that day. The ministry said it decided to launch the investigation in response to an application submitted by the China Animal Agriculture Association (CAAA) on behalf of the domestic industry, which has met all the conditions for filing an anti-dumping probe.

The ministry said it will probe into certain pork and pig by-products originating from the EU from Jan. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023, and will also investigate any damage done to related Chinese industries from Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2023. The probe is expected to conclude by June 17, 2025, but may be extended by half a year under special circumstances, the ministry said.

According to the statement, the interested parties shall truthfully reflect the situation and provide relevant information during the investigation. Anyone of them who fail to provide real information, or fail to provide necessary information within a reasonable time, or seriously hinder the investigation in other ways, will be subject to the ruling that the MOFCOM can make based on the facts it had obtained and the best available information.

The EU accounted for 54% of total Chinese imports of the investigated pig products between 2020 and 2023, according to a document submitted by CAAA to the commerce ministry. China imported 1.55 million tons of pork last year and slightly more than half of it came from Europe, according to customs data. Spain was the largest EU supplier, with sales of 382,000 tons.

The investigation came less than a week after the European Commission said it has pre-disclosed the level of provisional countervailing duties it would impose on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China. The tariffs would be introduced from July 4 if discussions with Chinese authorities do not result in an effective solution, the commission said last Wednesday. The executive arm of the EU concluded through an anti-subsidy investigation that the BEV value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.

If the abovementioned duties are materialized, the European Commission would impose additional duties on three sampled Chinese EV makers, on top of the ordinary BEV import duty of 10%. The additional individual duties would be 17.4% for BYD, 20% for Geely and 38.1% for SAIC. According to the statement, other BEV producers in China, which cooperated in the investigation but have not been sampled, would be subject to the following weighted average duty: 21%, while all other BEV producers in China would face an extra duty of 38.1% if they did not cooperate in the investigation.

A spokesperson of the Chinese Commerce Ministry later that day urged the EU to immediately correct its wrongdoings, translate the important consensus recently reached by heads of China, France and the EU into actions and properly address economic and trade frictions through dialogues. The tariffs levied by the EU not only damages the legitimate rights and interests of China’s EV industry, but will also disrupt and distort the global automotive industry chain supply chain, including the EU, according to the spokesperson. China will closely monitor the EU’s subsequent development and resolutely take all necessary measures to firmly defend legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms, the spokesperson cautioned.  

Chinese industries have formally filed an application to competent authorities to launch an anti-dumping investigation into imports of certain pork from the EU, the state-backed newspaper Global Time learned last Thursday. China is promoting introduction of procedures related to tariff hike on gasoline cars with large displacement engine, more exactly, gasoline cars powered by engines larger than 2.5 liters, according to an article posted by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media influencer affiliated with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), citing insiders of China’s auto industry the same day.

If China raises provisional tariff rate of the abovementioned vehicles, European brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz will be the first to be affected, which means that European automobile exports to China will suffer a blow, Yuyuan Tantian wrote.Besides possible tariffs on cars, Yuyuan Tantian indicated China can slap with additional brandy import duties since the government is set to announce preliminary decision on the imports. China has initiated an anti-dumping investigation imported from the EU in January, which was deemed as the widening trade disputes between Beijing and the bloc.