Large European firms sidestepping ‘futile’ tariffs, not moving from China to US, survey suggests

‘Repetitive swings of the tariff hammer have proven anything but strategic,’ according to EU Chamber of Commerce

But smaller European companies ‘taking a steady beating’ as a result of tariffs

Reading Time:3 minutes

The survey suggested larger European companies had re-routed or relocated to get around the tariffs. Photo: AP

Published: 1:22pm, 9 Dec 2019Updated: 11:04pm, 9 Dec 2019

US tariffs have failed to attract investment to the United States or pressure China into structural reforms, an influential European business lobby group has said after its research suggested large companies had found ways around the charges.

Large European companies operating in China had “effectively sidestepped” tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in its latest survey on the tariffs on Monday.

However, its survey of firms found that smaller companies were taking “a steady beating” as a result of tariffs.

“China certainly needs timely and wide-ranging reforms, and the right amount of strategic pressure can help move things in the right direction, but repetitive swings of the tariff hammer have proven anything but strategic,” chamber president Joerg Wuttke said.

“That European companies in China have effectively negated tariff effects in a relatively short space of time only serves to highlight the futility of bilateral tariffs in a global marketplace.”

Wuttke also said that US-China trade talks had yet to resolve structural economic issues in China that had long been a source of complaint from foreign business communities.