Utopia Talk / Politics / EU V China (trade)

Habebe rank	Mon May 25 02:38:25 EU countries press for trade crackdown on China Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands say tougher measures needed to defend industry against ‘unfair’ practices Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://he...ticle/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://ww...34-fdab4a0c8abe?syn-25a6b1a6=1 Four of the EU’s biggest economies are pressing for tougher trade measures to defend European industry against “the rise of unfair trade practices” amid a surge of exports from China. Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands, which have historically differed over trade policy, circulated a joint paper with Lithuania ahead of a key European Commission meeting on Friday on how to handle China. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://he...ticle/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://ww...34-fdab4a0c8abe?syn-25a6b1a6=1 Some of the EU’s main trading partners are “imposing new trade barriers or contributing to systemic and structural industrial overcapacity”, the paper says, without mentioning specific countries by name. “This situation has had a direct impact on the European industry, which lost 1mn jobs between 2019 and 2025.” But EU commissioners regularly accuse China of exporting overcapacity and trade defence measures are at the highest level in almost 20 years. The paper proposes ways to make it quicker and easier to impose higher tariffs on imports and fight circumvention. It says current measures take too long and have a narrow scope that is easily evaded by companies or countries, such as “by using a third country or by establishing themselves within the EU”. It highlights cases involving US biofuels and Indonesian steel and says local content rules should be tightened to prevent countries using overseas factories to assemble products to evade duties. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://he...ticle/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://ww...34-fdab4a0c8abe?syn-25a6b1a6=1 It wants the Commission to explore putting additional tariffs on companies rather than products and countries to crack down on circumvention, and to hire more officials to deal with a “backlog” of complaints from industry. The paper calls for more use of the powerful safeguards tool, which can be triggered quickly by a surge in imports and applies to every trading partner. The EU has used it to levy 50 per cent tariffs on steel above a certain quota, which has angered allies such as Ukraine and the UK. The countries behind the paper say there should also be a new “resilience tool, activated when European supply sources are concentrated beyond a specified threshold. It could impose quotas or additional duties on those suppliers.”  EU manufacturers have faced disruption after Beijing restricted supplies of some critical minerals and semiconductors, areas in which it dominates production. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://he...ticle/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://ww...34-fdab4a0c8abe?syn-25a6b1a6=1 MENU Financial Times Sign In Chinese tradeAdd to myFT EU countries press for trade crackdown on China Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands say tougher measures needed to defend industry against ‘unfair’ practices EU commissioners regularly accuse China of exporting overcapacity and trade defence measures are at the highest level in almost 20 years © CN-STR/AFP/Getty Images EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on x (opens in a new window) EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on facebook (opens in a new window) EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on linkedin (opens in a new window) EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save Andy Bounds in Brussels Published12 HOURS AGO 46 Print this page Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese trade myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. Four of the EU’s biggest economies are pressing for tougher trade measures to defend European industry against “the rise of unfair trade practices” amid a surge of exports from China. Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands, which have historically differed over trade policy, circulated a joint paper with Lithuania ahead of a key European Commission meeting on Friday on how to handle China. Some of the EU’s main trading partners are “imposing new trade barriers or contributing to systemic and structural industrial overcapacity”, the paper says, without mentioning specific countries by name. “This situation has had a direct impact on the European industry, which lost 1mn jobs between 2019 and 2025.” But EU commissioners regularly accuse China of exporting overcapacity and trade defence measures are at the highest level in almost 20 years. The paper proposes ways to make it quicker and easier to impose higher tariffs on imports and fight circumvention. It says current measures take too long and have a narrow scope that is easily evaded by companies or countries, such as “by using a third country or by establishing themselves within the EU”. It highlights cases involving US biofuels and Indonesian steel and says local content rules should be tightened to prevent countries using overseas factories to assemble products to evade duties. It wants the Commission to explore putting additional tariffs on companies rather than products and countries to crack down on circumvention, and to hire more officials to deal with a “backlog” of complaints from industry. The paper calls for more use of the powerful safeguards tool, which can be triggered quickly by a surge in imports and applies to every trading partner. The EU has used it to levy 50 per cent tariffs on steel above a certain quota, which has angered allies such as Ukraine and the UK. The countries behind the paper say there should also be a new “resilience tool, activated when European supply sources are concentrated beyond a specified threshold. It could impose quotas or additional duties on those suppliers.”  EU manufacturers have faced disruption after Beijing restricted supplies of some critical minerals and semiconductors, areas in which it dominates production. The EU and US, meanwhile, have halted some sales of high-tech goods to China. The paper illuminates a mood shift in the EU, which has been divided over whether to confront or placate Beijing over its surge in goods exports. The trade deficit was €360bn in 2025.  France has long called for tougher measures, with President Emmanuel Macron on Friday suggesting a “section 301” tool modelled on the US version, which puts tariffs on countries that pursue “unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory practices”. But Spain has courted Chinese investment and the Netherlands has been sceptical of insulating industry from global competition. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://he...ticle/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://ww...34-fdab4a0c8abe?syn-25a6b1a6=1 MENU Financial Times Sign In Chinese tradeAdd to myFT EU countries press for trade crackdown on China Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands say tougher measures needed to defend industry against ‘unfair’ practices EU commissioners regularly accuse China of exporting overcapacity and trade defence measures are at the highest level in almost 20 years © CN-STR/AFP/Getty Images EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on x (opens in a new window) EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on facebook (opens in a new window) EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on linkedin (opens in a new window) EU countries press for trade crackdown on China on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save Andy Bounds in Brussels Published12 HOURS AGO 46 Print this page Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese trade myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. Four of the EU’s biggest economies are pressing for tougher trade measures to defend European industry against “the rise of unfair trade practices” amid a surge of exports from China. Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands, which have historically differed over trade policy, circulated a joint paper with Lithuania ahead of a key European Commission meeting on Friday on how to handle China. Some of the EU’s main trading partners are “imposing new trade barriers or contributing to systemic and structural industrial overcapacity”, the paper says, without mentioning specific countries by name. “This situation has had a direct impact on the European industry, which lost 1mn jobs between 2019 and 2025.” But EU commissioners regularly accuse China of exporting overcapacity and trade defence measures are at the highest level in almost 20 years. The paper proposes ways to make it quicker and easier to impose higher tariffs on imports and fight circumvention. It says current measures take too long and have a narrow scope that is easily evaded by companies or countries, such as “by using a third country or by establishing themselves within the EU”. It highlights cases involving US biofuels and Indonesian steel and says local content rules should be tightened to prevent countries using overseas factories to assemble products to evade duties. It wants the Commission to explore putting additional tariffs on companies rather than products and countries to crack down on circumvention, and to hire more officials to deal with a “backlog” of complaints from industry. The paper calls for more use of the powerful safeguards tool, which can be triggered quickly by a surge in imports and applies to every trading partner. The EU has used it to levy 50 per cent tariffs on steel above a certain quota, which has angered allies such as Ukraine and the UK. The countries behind the paper say there should also be a new “resilience tool, activated when European supply sources are concentrated beyond a specified threshold. It could impose quotas or additional duties on those suppliers.”  EU manufacturers have faced disruption after Beijing restricted supplies of some critical minerals and semiconductors, areas in which it dominates production. The EU and US, meanwhile, have halted some sales of high-tech goods to China. The paper illuminates a mood shift in the EU, which has been divided over whether to confront or placate Beijing over its surge in goods exports. The trade deficit was €360bn in 2025.  France has long called for tougher measures, with President Emmanuel Macron on Friday suggesting a “section 301” tool modelled on the US version, which puts tariffs on countries that pursue “unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory practices”. But Spain has courted Chinese investment and the Netherlands has been sceptical of insulating industry from global competition. Germany, which has by far the biggest exposure to the Chinese economy, is having an internal debate on revising ties and has yet to sign the paper. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU trade commissioner, has backed greater use of safeguards and is drawing up a plan to get companies in key sectors to diversify suppliers ahead of Friday’s meeting.  Beijing has threatened to retaliate against any new measure targeting it. French trade minister Nicolas Forissier told the FT that he favoured a negotiated solution with China. “But we are not naive either. I mean we perfectly well know that Chinese industry produces overcapacities and that those overcapacities are very broadly subsidised by the state . . . redirected towards exports and this is a big problem,” he said. “These commercial relations have to be balanced.”
Habebe rank	Mon May 25 02:39:37 Can someone delete this thread? My bad.
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