EU-China solar panel dispute

Brussels cracks under pressure

Published on 23 October 2013 at 12:28

“China has won a major trading dispute with EU over solar panels,” writes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, commenting on an October 22 decision by the European Commission’s anti-dumping advisory committee to accept a Commission proposal that “actually scraps” EU import duties on Chinese solar panels. Their introduction triggered a major trade dispute between the EU and China. The daily notes that —

It was enough for Beijing to threaten retaliatory sanctions targeting German industry [in particular German cars] and wines from Latin countries to make Brussels beat a retreat.
According to European solar panel manufacturers, Chinese companies have breached the rules of fair competition by taking advantage of generous government subisidies to sell their products very cheaply on the EU market.

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