The European Commission initiated four new trade defence investigations only this week, two of them targeting Chinese products. This brings the total number of new anti-dumping cases initiated this year to seven, two more than Brussels launched in 2022.
Defensive trade policy
China EVs: EU relieves Tesla, German carmakers from heavy subsidies probe
The European Commission has decided not to sample Tesla Shanghai, the largest exporter of electric vehicles from China to the EU, as part of its ongoing investigation into Beijing’s subsidies into the sector.
EU initiates countdown to Chinese electric vehicle anti-subsidy duties
The countdown to likely countervailing duties on imports of electric vehicles from China has officially begun. The anti-subsidy investigation into imports of cars announced mid-September by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was published this morning in the European Union’s statute book.
EU, Indonesia reignite biodiesel trade squabbles
Welcome back to Borderlex after its small team took a much needed summer break ahead of a packed autumn of trade news to expect in Brussels, London and at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. The most notable news thus far in this scorching-hot European summer is the reignition of …
Week in Brussels: GSP scheme extension, Chile, ESA, Chinese beer kegs
This week it became clear that the European Commission is trying to wrap up a range of trade policy files before the EU institutions wind down for elections in the spring 2024. Another deadline is looming with the United States too over a deal on critical raw materials and on …
Steel safeguard: EU opens slew of duty free quotas to developing countries
The European Commission will not stop applying its import safeguard on steel just this year, despite having investigated the matter. Instead, the overall volume that is allowed into the EU market under the steel safeguard will increase by 4% next month – and a slew of country-specific quotas for developing …
‘Economic security’: EU looks to toughen up its export control regime
Like so many other European Commission ‘communications’, the economic security strategy is mainly a means to spell out and join up already existing economic policies the EU has adopted to respond to growing global geopolitical turbulence. So what’s new about the new document unveiled today?
Comment: EU anti-dumping duties on EVs from China: really?
So the media were alerted last night. The move came – seemingly – out of the blue: the European Commission is getting ready to launch an anti-dumping case against electric vehicles imported from China. Boom! Scoop! The digestive systems of some media are simple: they spew out very quickly what …
Landmark ruling: ECJ slaps down Cambodia rice import safeguard
It took three and a half years for the General Court in Luxembourg to rule that a now-lapsed three-year safeguard on imports of Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar was illegal. EU judges in essence said that the European Commission had not defined the allegedly hurt industry appropriately, that it …
Week in Brussels: Deforestation regulation outcry, steel safeguard revision, Petriccione loss
It’s still very quiet in Brussels but trade policy has started stirring ahead of a packed rentrée next week.