China calls out EU for ‘abuse’ of anti-dumping tariffs in dispute over steel fasteners

China’s fastener industry says EU anti-dumping probe relied on ‘fabricated’ information and fell short of legal due process

EU says anti-dumping duties will ‘re-establish a level playing field’ by taking away the unfair competition caused by price dumping

2-MIN READ2-MIN

The Chinese fastener industry says the EU’s anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese imports are “irresponsible”. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:00pm, 21 Feb 2022Updated: 8:06pm, 21 Feb 2022

A top Chinese industry body has lashed out at the European Union (EU) for its “abuse” of trade protection measures after it imposed tariffs on imports of steel fasteners from China.

The fastener branch with the China General Machine Components Industry Association issued a strongly worded protest on Sunday against the EU’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties of between 22.1 to 86.5 per cent on some Chinese products.

The European Commission said last week the measures followed an investigation that showed “significant dumping on the market, with Chinese imports heavily undercutting European sales prices and therefore injuring the European fasteners industry”.

The Chinese association said the anti-dumping probe, which was initiated last December, had no factual grounding and fell short of legal due process.

“The EU industry lacks the qualification to back up its appeal … it has merely fabricated that China’s ordinary fasteners have hurt the EU’s high-end fastener industries,” the association said in a statement.

The statement said both markets are complementary and have huge potential for mutual benefit, while describing the duties as “irresponsible” and “biased”.

“We call again on the European side to respect facts [and] strengthen dialogue for a fair and reasonable solution,” the association said.