EU takes China to WTO over steel anti-dumping duties

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union said Thursday, June 13, it was taking China, one of its biggest trade partners, to the World Trade Organization over Chinese tariffs on imported EU stainless steel pipes.

The EU “today requested consultations with China” at the WTO, it said, noting that Japan had filed a similar complaint earlier this year.

In a statement headlined “EU Joins Japan in WTO Challenge,” the European Commission said it believed the Chinese anti-dumping duties were “incompatible with WTO law, both on procedural and on substantive grounds.”

“WTO consultations will give the EU and China the opportunity to find a negotiated solution… If the consultations are not successful, after 60 days the EU can ask the WTO to establish a panel to rule on the case,” it said.

Nations can ask the global body to decide whether fellow members are in breach of the rules of international commerce and can be granted the right to impose retaliatory measures.

The Commission said the anti-dumping tariffs levied at 9.7% to 11.1% “are significantly hampering access to the Chinese market.”

The EU move raises the stakes in a series of tit-for-tat disputes with China, despite bilateral trade worth hundreds of billions of euros.

In addition to the steel tubes dispute, Beijing has launched anti-dumping action into imports of EU wine and chemicals after the EU imposed punitive tariffs on Chinese solar panels and threatened an investigation into China’s key telecom equipment firms.

EU-China trade ties are to be discussed Friday when EU trade ministers meet in Luxembourg. – Rappler.com