The European Union on Wednesday adopted a new round of anti-dumping taxes on several Chinese and Asian steel products.
These are additional tariffs on imports of hot-rolled stainless steel sheets and coils from China (19%), but also Indonesia (17.3%) and Taiwan (7.5%) .
This brings to 56 the number of anti-dumping measures taken by the Commission in recent years against Chinese steel products.
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his latest round of sanctions follows an investigation launched in the summer of 2019 after a complaint lodged by Eurofer, the European steel association, on behalf of producers located in Belgium, Italy and Finland.
The association welcomes this action,
"the first step in restoring fair competition and ensuring a sustainable future for the stainless steel industry".
However, she calls on the Commission to
"remain vigilant"
on any attempt by Chinese, Indonesian or Taiwanese producers to circumvent these measures and to
"fully apply"
the defense policy of the European steel industry, which employs around 200,000 people.
According to the Commission, these new taxes could protect 2,350 jobs concerned.
China produces about half of the world's steel, with enormous overcapacity, which has led it for years to flood markets with cheap products.
Along with the protectionist shield put in place by Donald Trump in the United States, the European Union set up an arsenal of protection in 2018. This led to an average drop of around 80% of imports of steel-based products from China.