EU condemns China dairy duties as ‘unjustified’
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BEIJING: The European Union on Monday (Dec 22) condemned China’s decision to impose duties of up to 42.7 per cent on some dairy products from the bloc, calling the move “unjustified” as trade tensions between the two sides deepen.
China’s commerce ministry said the provisional “duty deposits”, ranging from 21.9 per cent to 42.7 per cent, will take effect on Tuesday and apply to products including fresh and processed cheese, curd, blue cheese, as well as certain milk and cream.
PROVISIONAL MEASURES
The duties follow an anti-subsidy investigation launched in August 2024 after a request from the Dairy Association of China. The probe is due to conclude in February, after which Beijing could adjust the measures.
China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings showed a link between EU subsidies and what it described as “substantial damage” to China’s domestic dairy industry.
European officials rejected that assessment.
“Our assessment is that the investigation is based on questionable allegations and insufficient evidence, and that the measures are therefore unjustified and unwarranted,” said European Commission trade spokesman Olof Gill.
Gill added that the European Commission had already raised the issue at the World Trade Organization after China opened the dairy probe and would assess the latest duties for compliance with WTO rules.
“We are doing everything it takes to defend EU farmers and exporters, as well as the Common Agricultural Policy, against China’s unfair use of trade defence instruments,” he said, calling the decision “a very negative development” in EU-China relations.
INDUSTRY BACKLASH
European dairy groups also criticised the move. France’s FNIL described the duties as a “shock”.
Germany’s Dairy Industry Association said the measures were a “hard blow” for affected companies and urged all sides not to “inappropriately involve” dairy products in what it described as an unrelated trade dispute.
According to European Commission data, EU countries exported more than €1.6 billion (US$1.9 billion) worth of dairy products to China last year, down from a peak of just over €2 billion in 2022.
The dairy duties come a week after Beijing imposed tariffs on EU pork imports for five years to counter alleged dumping, with rates ranging from 4.9 per cent to 19.8 per cent.
ESCALATING SPAT
The dispute forms part of a broader trade clash between the EU and China that began in 2024, when Brussels moved to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, arguing that state subsidies unfairly undercut European manufacturers.
China denied the allegations and launched investigations into European pork, brandy and dairy products, widely seen in Brussels as retaliatory.
Tensions have also flared over steel, rare earth exports and what many European governments see as an increasingly unbalanced economic relationship. The EU ran a trade deficit of more than US$350 billion with China in 2024.
French President Emmanuel Macron said this month that Europe could adopt strong measures, including tariffs, if the imbalance is not addressed. Alongside trade, the EU and China remain divided over geopolitical issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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