The European Commission insists on the extension of anti-dumping duties on imports of Huapi shoes

The English "China Daily" reported on December 1. According to an official from the Ministry of Commerce, although the European Commission's Anti-Dumping Advisory Committee opposes the extension measures, the European Commission is bent on obstinately pursuing an extension of anti-dumping tariffs on imports of Chinese leather shoes, and its proposal will be this year. The deliberations at the EU ministerial meeting held in December will be implemented by January next year at the latest.

Regarding this news, all parties in China expressed their strong dissatisfaction and condemned the proposal and behavior of the European Commission as naked trade protectionism, which not only opposed the wishes of all parties in European member countries, but also hurt Chinese exporters and European consumers. Interests.

On October 19, the European Commission’s Anti-Dumping Advisory Committee rejected the European Commission’s previous proposal to increase anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese shoe imports by 15 votes to 12 votes. The news made all Chinese shoe exporters excited. The high tariffs for the past three years seem to have come to an end.

However, it doesn't last long. According to an official from the Ministry of Commerce, the European Commission will announce this week its final proposal on extending anti-dumping duties on imported leather shoes. This proposal is not optimistic.

“The Commission will propose to continue to impose anti-dumping duties on leather shoes made in China and Vietnam for a period of 15 months,” officials of the Ministry of Commerce who declined to be named told China Daily.

For this news, "Many people in Brussels already know that the European Commission should be announced on Tuesday," said the official.

More than 10 days ago, representatives of 27 member states of the European Commission’s Anti-Dumping Advisory Committee discussed and voted on the sunset review of Huapi shoes. Among them, 15 votes against extending anti-dumping measures, 10 votes support, and 2 abstentions. Many Chinese enterprises have Expressing great welcome, it is further stated that the EU is very likely to cancel the anti-dumping extension of Chinese leather shoes. The Ministry of Commerce also commented on its website that day, saying that “The Chinese government welcomes this and will pay further attention. China believes that the request of most member states to terminate anti-dumping measures reflects the current EU’s people of insight to support free trade and oppose trade. The call for protectionism. The Chinese government urges the European Commission to comply with public opinion and submit a correct proposal to terminate the anti-dumping measures to the Council of the European Union."

Obviously, the European Commission did not “accord with the will of the people” but insisted on its own way. "The European Commission is doing this in a contrarian and futile manner. It is also politicizing the trade issue. Chinese companies are firmly opposed to it," said the official of the Ministry of Commerce.

Although the European Commission only had the right to propose, and ultimately whether its proposal was passed and the subsequent ministerial meeting was passed, all parties in the society expressed great dissatisfaction with this result.

“As the world’s leading economy, the EU’s approach is unbelievable. It is unwise to insist on making such proposals despite the opinions of the member states, but we will still pay close attention to the progress of this incident.” The Light Industry Association Zhang Yafei, director of the leather branch shoe office, said in an interview with China Daily.

On October 5, 2006, the EU imposed a uniform anti-dumping tax of 16.5% on leather shoes originating in China (including a tax rate of 9.7% for one company). The duration of the measure is two years. On October 3, 2008, the European Commission, despite the opposition of most of the member states, insisted on launching a sunset review of the measure and continued to take anti-dumping measures during the review. The European Commission proposed a proposal on October 13, 2009, recommending that anti-dumping measures be extended for 15 months.

“Chinese shoe companies have suffered a lot of losses and if they continue to levy, they will seriously crack down on the confidence of Chinese companies in exporting to Europe,” said Wei Yafei.

According to Wei Yafei, from 2006 to the end of 2008, due to the implementation of anti-dumping tariffs by the European Union, China's leather shoe sales to Europe fell by 20%, directly leading to 20,000 job losses. The economic crisis at the end of 2008 cast a dark shadow on footwear exports.

"Everybody hopes to cancel. If you continue to increase income, it may be that many companies will not do it."

What is more concerned about the business community is that the EU has no reason to continue its proposal on the premise that all parties are opposed. "The impact on us is on the one hand, and what's more important is that they shouldn't do it. It's like hitting people. You can call me and I can't live without going on, but you shouldn't beat people themselves." Yafei said.

"The proposal of the European Commission is totally unreasonable, there is no democracy, and there is no law," said Zhou Shichen, a standing director of the China World Trade Research Association and a well-known Chinese trade expert.

“The European Commission’s practice has been ignoring the opinions of all member states and has been ignoring the interests of consumers. It is regrettable that they have now reached the point where even the fig leaf does not want to be.”

As early as 2006, when the EU member states voted, 12 countries opposed, with 9 votes in favor and 4 abstentions, the European Commission insisted on levying anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made leather shoes regardless of this result. This time, the European Commission’s approach is exactly the same. . It is also worth noting that the two European Commissions have taken a compromise. Because according to European regulations, anti-dumping duties are imposed and sunset tariffs are extended for a five-year period, while the European Commission proposes two and 15 months respectively.

"The European Commission has no reason to convince all people. On the one hand, they say that they oppose trade protectionism. On the other hand, their practices are completely contrary to their claims. They label themselves as democratic while actually doing the most undemocratic. Things." Zhou Shizhen said.

In Europe, there are about 8,000 shoes and shoe traders, of which 80% are from southern Europe, including Italy, Portugal, Spain and other countries, and these countries are actively supporting extension measures, while other European small countries, although opposed, are forced by Pressure from these big countries is also casting support.