MEP: Credible plan for dumped goods from China is crucial

Member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake (ALDE/D66) wants the EU to deal with our trade partner China in a credible way. Today, the European Parliament will adopt a resolution on how to deal with products that are dumped on the European market after 2016. China keeps its prices artificially low or overproduces and 'dumps' those goods on the European market. The EU must be able to act against that practice. After 2016, a specific clause within the World Trade Organisation will expire meaning a new method will be needed to protect the European market. Schaake: "This is a complex problem with many different angles. We need to look at the legal implications; there are big interests for European industry, but also for our trading relationship with China, one of our most important trading partners." Balanced proposal The European Commission is currently formulating a proposal for how the EU must deal with goods that are brought onto the European market from China against very low prices. Schaake: "It is a shame that the discussion is only getting under way now, we have known for fifteen years that this decision would have to be made, so the Commission is rather late. Now we need a balanced proposal as soon as possible, in which both the interests of heavy industry and those of importers and transporters, who need access to foreign products, are taken along." International obligations Because one clause will expire in 2016, it is clear that something will have to be done. Schaake: "If the EU does nothing, China will most probably start a case before the court of the World Trade Organisation. It is a case that we could very well lose, which means we would then be forced to develop a new approach after all. Then we would in fact have outsourced EU decision making to a WTO court, a very weak signal indeed. On top of that, if we want to keep other countries to their international obligations, we also need to make sure that we stick to our own." Watch Marietje Schaake's intervention in the plenary debate on China here. Read a blog by Marietje Schaake on dumped goods from China here.