🇨🇳🇪🇺 China Opens EU Chemical Probe

China on Oct. 3 launched an anti-dumping investigation into para-nitrotoluene imports from the EU, following an application from domestic industry. China’s commerce ministry said preliminary evidence showed import volumes stayed high from 2022 through 2025, while prices fell by nearly 60%, damaging local producers of the chemical used in dyes, pharmaceuticals and pesticides.

The probe starts immediately and is due to conclude by Oct. 3, 2027, with a possible six-month extension. The move comes ahead of a new round of China-EU economic and trade talks this month, as both sides expand trade remedy actions; Beijing said the EU has opened 28 such investigations against China since last year, about half involving chemical products.

The case adds another pressure point to a broader China-EU trade dispute already centered on industrial overcapacity, chemicals and the record Chinese surplus with the bloc. EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is expected in Beijing on Oct. 8-9 for talks with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

#China #EU

@asianomics