EU signals emergency import curbs after dramatic growth in Chinese trade gap

Brussels looking at ‘case-by-case’ tariffs and quotas after the trade surplus expands by almost a quarter in the first half of the year The European Union is prepared to introduce emergency measures to combat China’s extraordinary export surge as new figures showed the trade gap had widened dramatically, its top trade enforcer said on Tuesday. Safeguard measures that permit tariffs and quotas to be enforced to combat sudden import surges may “become legitimate on a case-by-case basis”, Denis Redonnet told the European Parliament’s trade committee. Redonnet, the EU’s deputy director general for trade, added that the bloc had little expectation that Beijing would make structural changes to its economic model. “Structural rebalancing will not take place before October, what can we do before that October deadline? We’ll look at a number of sectors, try to start rebalancing, try to rein in the export levels,” Redonnet said. “It may be that we are also in situations because of import surges where contingency trade protection-type tools like safeguards become legitimate and necessary on a case-by-case basis.”

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