While the EU was still anxious about the supply of rare earths, a notice from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce gave them a bigger shock. The EU is likely to be completely disappointed, not getting more rare earths from China, but instead receiving a five-year tax increase notice.

During this period, the EU continued to talk about rare earths and wanted more from China.

Regarding this, Toledo, the EU ambassador to China, recently called on China, asking it to understand "European fears" and even set a deadline for China to solve the rare earth supply issue within one month.

However, the EU has been pressing China in the trade field. In October last year, they just imposed a five-year anti-subsidy tax on Chinese electric vehicles, and this year, they also stirred up the issue of "economic coercion" at the G7 summit.

It should be noted that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce had already clearly stated that the approval of rare earth exports is done according to regulations, treating everyone equally, without targeting anyone.

China has approved applications that meet the regulations, but it's impossible to get greedy, especially when the EU is still hindering Chinese companies.

It is worth noting that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has officially announced that starting from July 1st, the anti-dumping duties on imported stainless steel billets and hot-rolled coils from the EU, UK, South Korea, and Indonesia will continue for five years.

The meaning here is clear: these countries shouldn't think they can take advantage. What happened in the past five years will happen again in the next five years. This means that, for the next five years, the way these countries' steel companies try to occupy the Chinese market with low-priced products will be completely blocked.

Going back to 2019, China first raised the anti-dumping measures against these regions' stainless steel products. Behind this was the difficult situation of the domestic industry.

At that time, a large amount of European stainless steel billets entered China at prices below cost, seriously impacting domestic steel mills and causing local orders to be taken away.

According to investigations by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, during that time, the market share of European stainless steel imports in China rose from 12% to 23%.

This wasn't normal market competition. The Ministry of Commerce has thoroughly investigated and found that this was all due to their price dumping, using far lower than reasonable prices to capture the market.

Now, after five years, the review results show that if the tax is lifted, such price-based dumping behavior could easily return.

If the anti-dumping measures are now terminated, the low-price imported products that once impacted the Chinese market may flood back in large quantities, putting the Chinese stainless steel industry, which has just recovered, back into crisis.

In recent years, domestic stainless steel enterprises have continuously upgraded their technology, and the quality of their products has greatly improved.

For example, in the stainless steel parts for new energy vehicles, the products produced by domestic companies have reached international advanced levels in terms of corrosion resistance and strength, and even received orders from many foreign car manufacturers.

Thus, China continuing the anti-dumping tax is undoubtedly building a solid "protection wall" for the domestic stainless steel industry.

In short, we are not targeting anyone arbitrarily, but if others break the rules first, we will follow the rules and protect our own industries from being bullied.

Moreover, the EU keeps talking about valuing "fair competition," but when it comes to fairness, shouldn't they first think about their own double standards?

Speaking of which, the Chinese market is not something that the EU can do without. In terms of exports alone, China is their third-largest customer. For the EU's stainless steel companies, the Chinese market occupies a significant share.

If they damage this relationship, their own lives might not be so smooth either, because a stable and large market isn't easy to find as a substitute.

In conclusion, China's continuation of the anti-dumping tax is both protecting the domestic industry and reminding the EU: the premise of cooperation is mutual respect. If the EU continues to block and suppress while hoping to gain advantages, China will certainly not agree.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7521689689700418098/

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