The counterattack was swift in the trade war between the European Union (EU) and China. Five days after Brussels’ decision to impose a surcharge of up to 35% on Chinese electric vehicles, Beijing announced on Tuesday, October 8, that importers of European brandy will be required to deposit a deposit with customs from Friday. A measure that especially penalizes cognac, which represents 95% of brandies.
“As of October 11warns the Ministry of Commerce, Importers will be obliged, when importing brandies from the EU, to make the corresponding deposit at the customs of the People’s Republic of China. » This sum will be charged retroactively if Beijing decides to actually attack these spirits, while estimating the domestic brandy industry. “threatened with substantial harm” by its European competitors.
The delegate minister of Foreign Trade, Sophie Primas, declared that France, like the EU, will challenge these “incomprehensible measures” before the World Trade Organization (WTO), even though it has struggled for years to resolve disputes. In May, during President Xi Jinping’s state visit, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron welcomed the fact that China does not impose taxes. “temporary” against spirits and had given him, among other gifts, bottles of cognac.
“Notifications of tax intentions”
In fact, the threat had been pending since January. Beijing then launched an investigation into EU wine-based spirits, in response to Brussels’ inquiry into Chinese state subsidies for electric cars, but also other sectors such as photovoltaic solar energy and, in particular, turbines. wind energy, a sector in which Chinese manufacturers threaten large companies. German, Spanish or Danish industrialists.
In mid-September, nearly a thousand winegrowers, accompanied by cognac merchants, marched through the city of Charente to the sub-prefecture to alert the government of” emergency ” of the threat. In August, China claimed to have evidence of European dumping. And the commercial houses then received “notifications of tax intentions” which could be around 35% on average, said Florent Morillon, president of the National Interprofessional Cognac Office of France.
Despite strong opposition from Berlin, EU member countries voted on Friday, October 4, to impose customs duties on electric cars imported from China. A measure that will come into force at the end of October, when Brussels also launched a guarantee deposit mechanism for Chinese manufacturers. Wine professionals then estimated that it had been “sacrificed” by the government and the EU.
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