BEIJING | By Qu Yunxu at Caixin | The European Commission is imposing a provisional anti-dumping tariff on Chinese solar panels until August. Beijing has launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation over European wine in China. What’s behind this war?
Angela Merkel refuses to levy tariffs of 47% on Chinese solar panel imports because she fears damaging China-Germany relations and being shut out of its market. However, in Ray Kwong’s view, Berlin is too dependent on China’s economic engine, which could crack anytime due to territorial conflicts, too-rapid expansion of credit, lax environmental oversight, widening discontent among the population and many other legitimate problems.
A new dispute among EU members has arisen. This time is not an austerian versus keynesian brawl but a shall-we-punish-Chinese-dumping one. Next week the Commission will decide whether to impose big tariffs to the $27 billion worth of solar panels that China sells to Europe each year. In this battle over how to respond to Beijing trade practices, will domestic interests prevail?