WTO Will Resolve Sino EU Dispute On Shoe Imports

The discussions between the EU and China have ended. The WTO dispute resolution organization decided to set up a special group to decide the problem.

The dispute was initiated by China, and it is the second such dispute between the WTO and the European Union, which opposes EU's anti-dumping duties on shoes imported from China. The EU's anti-dumping duties on shoes imported from China are set at 16.5%, and the anti-dumping duty on shoes imported from Vietnam is set at 10%.

A Chinese official declared at the meeting that the EU's expropriation of such tariffs had damaged the employment and life of about 150 thousand people in the leather industry. The interests of Chinese enterprises are also seriously damaged by the EU's anti-dumping duties.

According to WTO rules, member states have the right to levy tariffs on products when they are dumped and their selling price is lower than their production cost, which ultimately hurts the trade of importing countries.

However, such an anti-dumping strategy has been operated to protect domestic industries, thus becoming a normal reason for trade conflicts.

The European Union's trade lawyers have rebutted the statements, saying that the EU's expropriation of anti-dumping duties is not to protect domestic industries, but also to combat unfair trade practices.