The countermeasures work! China announced an investigation into EU pork, and less than 24 hours later, Spain sent a request for negotiations

2024-06-20 01:52:51

The countermeasures work! China announced an investigation into EU pork, and less than 24 hours later, Spain sent a request for negotiations

Filipino vision

2024-06-18 16:16Published in Hubei Hubei Satellite TV International News Commentary Program Special Commentator

According to the Observer, China's Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement announcing an anti-dumping investigation into imports of pork and pig by-products from the EU. The investigation was initiated at the request of the domestic industry, and after a series of reviews, the relevant authorities decided to initiate an investigation into EU pork and by-products after finding that the application met the criteria for filing an anti-dumping investigation. It is worth noting that after the EU announced that it would impose high tariffs on China's electric vehicles, China's move was regarded by foreign media as a "countermeasure", and the meaning of-for-tat with the EU is obvious, among which Spain, as China's main pork importer, is very anxious and worried about the latest actions taken by China.

The countermeasures work! China announced an investigation into EU pork, and less than 24 hours later, Spain sent a request for negotiations

Spain's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Planas, said he did not think Spain would be affected by the potential measures in the short term as the investigation would last for about a year. In other words, Spain will not be concerned about its pork exports within the time limit of China's anti-dumping investigation into the EU, but the official still hopes that China and the EU will have room to negotiate on this issue so as to avoid tariffs on agricultural products and food, and they are worried that the escalation of "retaliatory measures" will lead to a trade war that will hurt the interests of both sides. At present, it seems that China's investigation has a great impact on the EU's major pork exporters, so much so that less than 24 hours after the Chinese side released the news, Spain could not wait to send a request for negotiations to the Chinese side.

And this also shows that China's precise "countermeasures" have an effect, directly poking at the pain points of Spain, you know, the EU's tariff measures on China's electric vehicles, behind Spain is inevitably fueling the fire, this time China's "countermeasures" measures, so that the Spanish government is uneasy, and the request for negotiations is naturally not to lose the Chinese market. According to relevant statistics, Spain will export about 1.2 billion euros of pork products to China in 2023, accounting for 21% of China's total pork imports, and the reason why Spain and other European countries can become China's main pork importers is because there is a serious problem of "overcapacity" in EU pork, and pork products such as pig ears and pig feet are not favored in Europe, on the other hand, there are a lot of subsidies in the EU in the agricultural field in recent years, resulting in related pork and by-products. Compete in the Chinese market at extremely low unfair dumping prices.

All these factors have contributed to the high proportion of EU pork in the Chinese market, and now the EU's large subsidies to its pork industry have also become the fuse for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to launch an anti-dumping investigation. From this level, although the anti-dumping investigation initiated by China is very "coincidental" with the timing of the EU's announcement of tariffs on China's electric vehicles, China's Ministry of Commerce clearly pointed out in the announcement that China's anti-dumping investigation on EU pork is open and transparent, in line with the relevant rules of the WTO, so there is no so-called "retaliation" by foreign media. But then again, after the EU announced that it would impose high tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, China chose this special time to issue an anti-dumping investigation on EU products, which can be regarded as a kind of "knock" on the EU.

Not only that, China's Ministry of Commerce previously decided to conduct an anti-dumping investigation on EU-related brandy products, and now some French brandy producers are worried about future exports to China. In fact, on these issues, China still leaves room for the EU, you know, the Ministry of Commerce on EU brandy products and pork products, anti-dumping investigation is still ongoing, and lasts for a long time, now the EU tariff measures are still in the initial stage, has not been formally implemented, China hopes that during the anti-dumping investigation, the EU can timely correct its wrong measures, remove the high tariffs on China's electric vehicles. Once the contradictions between China and the EU deepen, triggering a wider range of trade frictions, the EU's losses will be even heavier.

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