By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-23 10:49:31 | Updated at 2024-09-30 09:22:42
6 days ago
It is the first time the commission has challenged an investigation-stage action by a WTO member in Geneva, indicating a desire in Brussels to head off the inquiry before punitive tariffs are imposed on a politically sensitive sector.
The move is the latest ploy in a brewing trade war between the two powers, sparked by the European Union’s push to contain what it sees as market-distorting subsidies and overcapacity in various industrial sectors in China.
The WTO case concerns an anti-subsidy inquiry launched by China’s Ministry of Commerce in August, into certain milk, cream and cheese products under the EU’s giant common agricultural policy.
The inquiry also targets national-level support programmes in multiple EU member states, and is broadly seen to be in retaliation for the commission’s own anti-subsidy probe into Chinese-made electric vehicles.
