EU commission divided over Chinese imports
03/03/2008 12:00
The European Commission is locked in a dispute over whether to impose punitive tariffs on cheap Chinese imports to the EU, with the issue expected to heat up a Wednesday regular meeting of 27 EU commissioners.
Commissioners from three leading EU states -
A commission study, cited by the
The opposition is also fuelled by Italian producers, Nu Air and Fiac, claiming they will shift their entire production to
"The European Commission is refusing to give us the chance to create hundreds of jobs in Europe because they claim the process of delocalisation of production is irreversible," the chief of Nu Air
He added: "But we have done the maths - delocalisation is reversible. All we ask is for the European Commission to give us the chance to prove it."
However, commissioner Mandelson has said such tariffs could prove counter-productive.
Anti-dumping duties can be imposed by the commission to protect European firms from foreign competitors dumping goods on the EU market at below cost price. Critics point out, however, that tariffs slapped by
A commission study, cited by the FT, has shown the duties would cost €30 million a year, compared with an estimated benefit of about €7 million to the Italian producers.
'Made in
The same divisions were highlighted last year when the commission extended the bloc's import duties on environmentally friendly light-bulbs made in
Recently, European steel firms have also demanded that Brussels impose import duties on Chinese steel.
In general, Europe's imports from
The EU imported €191 billion of goods from
26.02.2008 -
Source: euobserver.com
Các tin khác
- Exports face challenges despite enjoying robust growth (26/04/2024)
- Vietnam ranks fifth among aquatic product suppliers for Singapore (26/04/2024)
- Some firms likely to close due to higher anti-dumping tariff on plywood products in S Korea (26/04/2024)
- Foreign businesses increasingly seek export sources in Vietnam (26/04/2024)
- Japan's investigation into China's graphite electrodes to 'affect regional cooperation' (26/04/2024)