PARIS: France will challenge China over its import duties on brandy, which Paris calls political and unjustified, when junior trade minister Sophie Primas visits Shanghai next week, two French diplomatic sources said on Tuesday (Oct 29).
China imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the European Union early this month after the bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). The measures have hit French cognac hardest.
Primas will meet China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a three-day visit to Shanghai from Sunday to Tuesday, during which she will visit the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the sources said.
One diplomat described the Chinese measures as acts of retaliation that lacked justification and which were an “unacceptable manipulation of trade rules”.
The European Commission said it would challenge the provisional anti-dumping measures on EU brandy imports at the World Trade Organization.
French Cognac shipments to China reached US$1.7 billion last year and accounted for 99 percent of the country’s brandy imports.