CHINA extended yesterday its anti-subsidy investigation into European Union dairy imports by six months, one front in a wider trade war with Brussels and Washington.
Trade tensions between China and the EU erupted in 2023 when the European Commission – which oversees the bloc’s trade policy – launched an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese-made electric vehicles.
For dairy products, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it had prolonged the period of its anti-subsidy investigation to February 21, 2026, citing the complexity of the case, which covers some EU cheese, milk and cream products.
The extension of the year-old dairy probe had been expected given that more technical visits by Chinese officials were already scheduled for early September, said Alexander Anton, secretary general of the European Dairy Association, which represents the industry at EU level.
In France, producers are hoping for a political resolution of the EV issue to avoid duties that could hit French dairy exports to China worth around 650 million euros ($759m) a year, Francois-Xavier Huard, CEO of industry association FNIL, said.
In April, a European Commission spokesperson said the EU and China had agreed to look into setting minimum prices of Chinese-made EVs, instead of tariffs imposed by the EU last year.
The two sides have yet to reach a deal.
“Beijing is still hoping to come to terms with the EU on a long list of trade conflicts,” said Even Rogers Pay, an analyst at Beijing-based Trivium China who specialises in agriculture.
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