EU Set to 'Hit China With 20 Anti-Dumping Probes'

The European Union is said to be preparing to hit China with a raft of new anti-dumping probes as anger mounts over China’s “weaponisation” of its trade policies and industrial overcapacity, notably its domination of the rare earth magnets sector.

Former EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom revealed on Thursday that preparations were underway “for another 20 anti-dumping investigations in a variety of fields,” adding that “I think they will be opened consecutively in coming weeks,” according to a report by the South China Morning Post on Friday.

Malmstrom, who was reported to have made the remarks at an economic affairs event in Dublin on Thursday, said Beijing had “cleverly taken advantage of countries across the world who are disappointed with the United States” since Trump returned to the White House, but noted that the EU still had “massive concerns” about China.

Brussels is said to have mounting grievances with China’s trade policies and is frustrated at Beijing’s “unwillingness to address EU concerns” about discounted goods being re-routed to the continent because of tariffs imposed in the US, the report said.

It is now considering its response to aggressive anti-dumping probes launched by Beijing, which have deepened trade tensions.

The EU’s current trade representative Sabine Weyand noted that the EC lodged a complaint last week that provisional tariffs imposed by China on EU pork imports had “significant shortcomings.”

Serious discussions had been held on using an anti-coercion instrument against Beijing for the first time, while the German newspaper Handelsblatt said on Thursday the EC was ready to impose 25-50% tariffs on Chinese steel products.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is believed to have conveyed some of these concerns to Chinese Premier Li Qiang at a meeting in New York on Wednesday.