European food producers, farmers and exporters are concerned about threatened new Chinese import tariffs following the European Union's decision to impose fines on electric cars made in China. Brussels speaks of distortion of competition because Beijing would give subsidies to the Chinese car industry.
After Brussels investigated the Chinese EV industry in recent months, China had already warned of possible countermeasures. China is now reporting that imports of certain EU dairy and pork products could be affected, which could lead to long-term trade sanctions.
According to Chinese customs data, the EU was the second largest source of dairy products for China with at least 36% of the total import value in 2023, after New Zealand. Australia was the third exporter. While it remains unclear which products China might target in retaliation, whey powder, cream and fresh milk were the top products of the EU's 1.7 billion euros in dairy exports to China last year.
Countries such as the Netherlands, France, Germany, Ireland and Denmark are most likely to face additional import tariffs on dairy products on the Chinese market. The Netherlands, Denmark and France are also major suppliers of pork, although Spain was China's largest supplier last year, followed by Brazil and the United States.
“We are concerned,” Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA, France's largest farmers' union, told reporters when asked about possible Chinese measures against EU pork imports.
“There are certain parts of the pig that are not eaten in Europe and that need to find markets, and China is an important market… We could quickly run into problems if we don't have trade with certain countries. China imported $6 billion worth of pigs last year, including offal, according to Chinese customs data.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski recently said his intention was “to avoid, as much as possible, agriculture paying the costs of the problems in other sectors.” “The position of the European Union is that open trade in food is a very important instrument to ensure food security at global level,” he said.
China has often imposed targeted trade sanctions in the past, targeting food products in previous trade wars.