A similar story has played out in chemicals, where China has doubled its share of the EU’s imports over the past decade, accounting for 18% of the total.
Blueprint
Speaking in Beijing last week, Šefčovič said the deal on hybrid cars would serve as a “blueprint” for other sectors. A senior Commission official said on Monday that the Commission had also heard complaints about Chinese imports from the wind and furniture industries.
EU safeguards on hybrids — which would foresee an import quota and tariffs for volumes above that — should be ready by December, Šefčovič has said, adding that these would comply with the rules of the World Trade Organization.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the proposal for new safeguards on chemicals and machinery had been agreed with Chinese officials. Beijing might very well balk at any new trade restrictions, one analyst warned.
The deal on curtailing the surge of imported hybrid vehicles is a one-off that Beijing is unlikely to repeat in other sectors, said Lynn Song, chief economist for China at ING bank.
“At some point China would probably end up drawing the line. It’s not likely we’ll see these caps across many products,” he said. “China doesn’t want to set that precedent moving forward.”