China postpones controls on food imports after global outcry
Beijing applies two-year ‘transitional period’ after complaints its new rules could cost billions of dollars in trade
China has delayed enforcing sweeping new controls on food imports following complaints by the United States, Europe and other trading partners that they would disrupt billions of dollars in trade.
Rules requiring each food shipment to have an inspection certificate from a foreign government were due to take effect on Sunday. But Beijing has decided to grant a “transitional period of two years” following comments by other governments, according to a document submitted to the World Trade Organisation on Monday.
It gave no details, but the delay might help to avert concerns that shipments of meat, fruit, dairy and other products might be disrupted, hurting thousands of farmers and food processors who look to China as a key growth market.
The dispute added to trade tensions with the US and Europe, which have said that low-priced exports of Chinese steel and aluminium are hurting foreign competitors and threatening jobs.
The food rules prompted unusually broad opposition. Governments said little in public, but a coalition including the United States, European Union, Japan, Australia and Argentina lobbied Beijing to scale back the requirement. They urged China to follow global practice and apply it only to high-risk food.
Some officials suggested Beijing was trying to restrict imports in violation of its market-opening promises. Foreign suppliers complain Beijing already uses safety rules in ways that hamper access for beef and other goods.