The European Union dropped a threat to impose tariffs on bicycles from China to counter alleged subsidies to Chinese exporters, marking a respite in the EU’s wider battle to protect its producers.

The EU closed a probe into whether Chinese bikemakers receive trade-distorting government aid, a step that removes the possibility of anti-subsidy duties by the 27-nation bloc on imports of bikes from China.

The European Bicycle Manufacturers Association withdrew its subsidy complaint on March 22, the European Commission, the EU’s trade authority in Brussels, said today in the Official Journal. The commission opened the subsidy inquiry in April 2012 as a result of the bicycle group’s complaint.

Europe is stepping up scrutiny of alleged state aid to Chinese manufacturers, raising the prospect of more European import duties to protect higher-cost producers. Most of the EU’s punitive tariffs against China punish exporters there for selling goods in Europe below cost, a practice known as dumping.

China faces more EU anti-dumping duties than any other country. To date, the EU has hit China with anti-subsidy levies only twice -- on paper in 2011 and on steel earlier this year.

In two separate investigations that continue, the EU is threatening to slap anti-subsidy duties on solar panels and solar glass from China. In addition, the commission said last week that it was prepared to probe possible subsidies to Chinese makers of mobile-telecommunications equipment unless the government in Beijing negotiates an “amicable solution.”

The EU already imposes an anti-dumping duty on Chinese bicycles -- trade protection that is 20 years old. In March 2012, the bloc said it may ease the 48.5 percent duty because of changes in the Chinese and EU markets. That review continues. In an investigation begun last September, the EU is also examining whether Chinese bike makers have circumvented the anti-dumping duty by shipping bicycles to Europe via Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.