2024-07-22 23:33:06
The European Union may use a “new weapon” in the trade war with China.
As reported by Day.Az with reference to RBC, The Economist writes about this.
One of them is the use of the international procurement mechanism. The EU is already using it in its investigation of the conditions of public procurement of medical equipment in China. The aim of the investigation, which began in April, is to find out to what extent the country gives preference to its own companies in tenders for medical equipment. Brussels believes that Beijing uses discriminatory methods, which is why European companies cannot receive public contracts in China, Euronews noted.
If China is found to be using unfair practices and European companies are not allowed to participate in public procurement, the EU could retaliate by restricting Chinese companies’ access to public tenders in Europe, the Economist reports.
The EU emphasizes that the bloc’s policies comply with the requirements of the World Trade Organization.
The EU-China trade war has escalated after the European Commission introduced provisional tariffs on Chinese electric cars in early July. They range from 17.4% to 38.1%. The EC believes that manufacturers of these products are benefiting from “unfair” subsidies, which poses a threat to the production of such electric cars in the EU.
China says there is no subsidized overproduction in the country. In response to the tariffs, the country responded with an anti-dumping investigation against European supplies of pork – a major item of Chinese imports from Europe. The introduction of tariffs was not approved by a number of EU countries due to fears of escalating the conflict, among them – Germany, Hungary, Norway and Sweden, Reuters wrote.
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