French Finance Minister Eric Lombard stated that the European Union must strengthen tariff barriers to counter the damage to the European industry caused by a significant amount of Chinese product imports.
Lombard emphasized that Europe has already taken action on steel and automobiles and now must adjust regulations to more broadly address Chinese imports with similar measures.
According to a report by Bloomberg on Saturday (July 5), Lombard made these remarks during an economic conference in Aix-en-Provence in southern France: “In today’s world, we must protect our industry. We must do this in all industrial sectors, otherwise China’s capacity policy will suffocate our industry; they have over half of the global capacity in every sector.”
Beijing announced on Friday a 32.2% anti-dumping duty on European brandy, but exempted major cognac producers who have negotiated minimum price commitments with China. Previously, the EU decided to impose tariffs of up to 45% on electric cars manufactured in China by the end of 2024.
Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission on trade issues, stated that China’s actions to impose additional anti-dumping duties on European brandy are unfair, unreasonable, contrary to applicable international norms, and unfounded.
This issue has attracted attention from the French media. The “Echo Report” cited an anonymous European diplomat’s warning: “Beijing has achieved its industrial goals and no longer needs to pretend. Now, they rely solely on leverage.”
The official mentioned that China has clearly chosen the opposing camp of Europe, and Europe must respond to China’s actions in a realistic manner.
Multiple media reports indicated that the Chinese Communist Party abruptly shortened a planned two-day summit with EU leaders at the end of this month to a single day, once again underscoring the tense relationship between Europe and Beijing.
French Minister of Industry Marc Ferracci, while speaking to Bloomberg at an event in Aix-en-Provence on Friday, also called for Europe to strengthen its defense against Chinese imports.
“Another worrying trend is that Chinese products which were originally flowing towards the United States are now turning towards Europe,” Ferracci stated. “China has excess capacity in many industries, which is very sensitive and dangerous for our industries.”