China Imposes Provisional Tariffs of Up to 42.7% on Some EU Dairy Products

Beijing.- The Ministry of Commerce of China announced this Monday the imposition of provisional anti-subsidy tariffs of between 21.9% and 42.7% on imports of certain dairy products from the European Union, after preliminarily concluding that these receive subsidies and have caused "substantial damage" to the Chinese dairy industry. The measures, which will come into effect this Tuesday, will be applied in the form of security deposits that importers must provide to Chinese customs based on the customs value of the goods and the percentage set for each European exporting company.

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The announcement comes in a context of commercial tension between China and the European Union, after Beijing recently imposed tariffs of up to 19.8% on imports of certain pork products from the Twenty-Seven, in what is considered retaliation for Brussels' tariffs on its electric vehicles. The anti-subsidy investigation into European dairy products was initiated in August 2024 at the request of the China Dairy Industry Association and the China Dairy Products Industry Association. The Ministry stated in a communique that it carried out the investigations under the principles of "equity, impartiality, openness and transparency", and in accordance with Chinese legislation and the rules of the World Trade Organization, "fully protecting the rights of the interested parties". According to preliminary findings, the authorities determined that the investigated dairy products from the EU receive subsidies, that the Chinese dairy industry has suffered "substantial damage" and that there is a "causal relationship" between both factors, which motivated the adoption of provisional measures. The investigation analyzed imports made between April 2023 and March 2024 and evaluated the effects of these purchases on the national sector during the period between 2020 and 2024. Among the programs cited were aid for ecological conservation, subsidies for young farmers, support for the storage of dairy products, and funds for rural development, implemented in countries such as Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Croatia, Finland, Romania, and the Czech Republic. The measures affect a set of products including fresh cheeses, curds, processed cheeses and blue cheeses, as well as milk and some types of cream. Brussels criticized the investigation from the outset: in September 2024, the European Commission took the case to the World Trade Organization, considering that the inquiries were based on "questionable accusations and insufficient evidence", declared the Trade Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, at the time. France, which leads the table of European dairy exporters to China, is the main affected by the anti-subsidy investigation, according to data from the General Administration of Customs of the Asian country, which also shows Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain among the biggest affected. This month, China announced the imposition of tariffs ranging from 4.9% to 19.8% on pork from the European Union for a period of five years, following an investigation into unfair competition initiated in 2024, in a context marked by trade frictions with Brussels over Chinese electric vehicles.