Major EU countries push for tougher China policy ahead of Brussels debate

A report published last week by the Centre for European Reform estimated that more than 400,000 German jobs tied to exports to China may already have been lost to China. The paper describes a reality where Brussels trade officials are overwhelmed by the volume of dumping and subsidy complaints, asking for those departments responsible to be beefed up.

Those anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes – the lion’s share of which concern China – should be complemented with emergency safeguard measures, which can be implemented more quickly, the report said. It proposed company-level countervailing duties, not just country or product-level ones. This could be potentially significant for Chinese firms operating globally through subsidiaries, which could find themselves in the EU’s crosshairs.

It wants tougher anti-circumvention measures, to prevent companies hit by EU tariffs from funnelling goods through third countries, and for an “economic security” mindset to guide the commission’s actions on trade.

“The growing imbalance in the level playing field for the union’s industrial base, and the risk of losing critical industrial capacities and strategic sectors cannot be ignored,” the paper read.