Brussels, 21/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht believes in a quick amicable solution but Beijing will have to take action to repair the harm done by its dumping.
Unwavering in his decision at the beginning of June to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels imported into the EU, De Gucht continued to be so during his visit to Beijing on Friday 21 June for the annual session of the EU-China joint committee. The provisional anti-dumping duties last for six months - while awaiting the end of the investigation.
As the majority of member states are asking of him - member states which fear Chinese retaliation - De Gucht is in search of an amicable solution with the Chinese authorities. This is why he decided on a two-stage response - to protect the European industry urgently, but also to encourage Beijing to negotiate. Since 6 June, the EU has indeed been imposing provisional anti-dumping duties - of only 11.8% - on imports of Chinese solar panels. However, in the absence of a negotiated solution, the average rate will be 47.6% from 6 August - with lower duties (37.2%) for Chinese companies that cooperate with the investigation, and higher duties (67.9%) for those that do not cooperate.
On Friday, De Gucht reiterated to his counterpart, China's Minister for Trade Gao Hucheng, that “Europe wishes for an amicable solution”. Nevertheless De Gucht also reiterated that a gesture of good will should come from Beijing. “As I have stated time and time again during the course of the investigation, the EU has only one wish - to find a negotiated settlement as quickly as possible on the basis of undertakings than can remove the injury caused by the dumping on the market. Nothing more, nothing less”, he stressed. “Technical level discussions toward a negotiated settlement began in Brussels at the start of the week and continue now in Beijing (…). But a word of caution. It is early days in the negotiation process. This kind of issue is rarely solved overnight”, De Gucht warned in the summary of the situation that he gave to the press. Responding little to questions, De Gucht nevertheless said he very much hoped that a solution could be found at the beginning of July at the latest.
De Gucht did not wish to speak about the Chinese threat of taxing European wine heavily. He said that this should be spoken about once there is an agreement and that it is, of course, evident that the objective of an agreement is to put an end to problems and not to create new ones. He added that, according to WTO rules, China has the right to start an investigation into wine imported to China - and the decision about whether to do this or not is up to China. However, he said that he had confidence in the desire of the Chinese to continue to drink excellent European wine. In response to the EU's decision on solar panels, China has announced several anti-dumping procedures against the EU - including one on wine.
Investment agreement and access to the Chinese market. The meeting of the EU-China joint committee - on the sidelines of which the solar panel issue (which was not on the agenda) was tackled - enabled De Gucht and Gao to assess developments in bilateral trade and investment, and to exchange views on multilateral negotiations and plurilateral initiatives.
De Gucht confirmed to the Chinese authorities that he had asked the 27 EU member states for a mandate to negotiate the investment agreement that the European and Chinese leaders agreed, in February 2012, to negotiate. De Gucht said that “this is a priority for Europe” and stated the two key objectives sought on the European side - firstly, the mutual protection of investments and legal certainty for investors; and secondly, improved access to the Chinese market - including the thorny issue of obligatory joint ventures in China. “In short, by reducing barriers to investing in China we would see increased bilateral investment flows. Better market access and conditions for European companies is really at the heart of our ambition for a deeper, better and more stable trade relationship”, De Gucht stressed.
In this frame of mind, De Gucht raised with Gao the issue of the problems in accessing the Chinese market that are met by European companies in a number of sectors linked to goods - such as cosmetics and medical devices, and regarding financial services and telecommunications.
On the multilateral level, De Gucht and Gao spoke of the next WTO ministerial conference in Bali in December, and they said they were determined to make “a success” of this. (EH/transl.fl)