Beijing has launched an investigation into EU pork imports, targeting European farmers rather than German carmakers, just days after the EU announced plans to impose provisional tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars.
The Commerce Department didn’t mention EV tariffs when it announced Monday it was opening an anti-dumping investigation into European pork, but the move is widely seen as a response to the EU’s moves on EVs and will give China some bargaining chips in trade negotiations.
Europeans await China’s response to new EU tariffs on Chinese cars
China could impose a 25% tariff on imports of large gasoline engine cars in the name of climate change, which would hit Mercedes and BMW hard, but it has chosen not to do so, at least for now, perhaps in recognition of the German auto industry’s opposition to EU tariffs and its significant production in China.
The Chinese market is a key one for German automakers, and the head of the country’s automotive association VDA said the EU’s tariff announcement on June 12 was a further step away from international cooperation. “As a result of this measure, the risk of a global trade conflict has increased even further,” Hildegard Mueller said in a statement.
A promoter at a booth for Spanish pork imports prepares for the next day at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, Nov. 6, 2018. Beijing has launched an investigation into EU pork imports, targeting European farmers rather than German carmakers, just days after the EU announced plans to impose provisional tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
The EU pork import investigation will cover a range of products including fresh and frozen pork, intestines and other offal, and is expected to take a year, with the possibility of an extension of another six months, the statement said.
European Commission trade spokesman Olof Gill told reporters in Brussels that EU farm subsidies are “strictly in accordance with our WTO obligations” and that the Commission would monitor the investigation very closely and intervene if necessary to ensure that the Chinese investigation complies with World Trade Organization rules.
Chinese officials said the EU’s investigation into subsidies for electric vehicle production in China is a “typical protectionist move” that ignores WTO rules. The EU will impose temporary tariffs of 17.4% to 38.1% on electric vehicles from China for four months from July 4. The tariffs will apply to vehicles exported to Europe by both Chinese and foreign brands, including Tesla.
EU exports of pork products to China peaked at 7.4 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in 2020, when a swine plague ravaged pig farms and forced China to turn abroad to meet domestic demand. They have since fallen to just 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion) last year. Nearly half of that total came from Spain.
“An escalation of trade measures must be avoided,” Spain’s Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said.
Spain’s pork industry group Interpolc said in a statement it would “cooperate fully with the Chinese authorities” and provide all necessary documentation.
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“The agricultural industry does not tend to be a source of conflict, but it often ends up paying the price,” Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said, citing the United States’ tariffs on some EU farm products in 2019 amid a dispute over subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus.
“We believe we have the time and space to negotiate and avoid this trade dispute,” Planas said.
