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European Industries Pressing EU to Deny China Market Economy Status
02/08/2016 - European manufacturers and union laborers, including those in the steel sector, are planning to march in Brussels next week to voice opposition to granting China market economy status.
More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the march, with many of those coming from the steel sector, according to EUROFER, the European Steel Association.
The European Union is debating whether to grant China market economy status, something it says it is due under the country’s 15-year-old ascension agreement to the World Trade Organization. European industry, however, argues that doing so would open the floodgates to unfairly traded goods and leave Europe without any effective trade measures.
“China is, quite simply, not a market economy,” said Axel Eggert, EUROFER’s director general. “It does not yet meet four out of the five EU criteria to be considered as such. To prematurely grant (market economy status) when China meets neither the EU criteria nor its WTO obligations would be economic and political folly.”
The march is being organized by AEGIS Europe, an industrial alliance representing nearly 30 sectors. The alliance, of which EUROFER is a part, has launched a public awareness campaign meant to drum opposition to granting the status.
“The march … strikes at the heart of the challenges facing the European steel industry. We are staunch advocates for free and fair trade. Dumped steel imports from China, volumes of which have doubled in 18 months, are flooding the EU market and directly causing irreversible closures and job losses across the EU steel sector,” Eggert said.
The European Union is debating whether to grant China market economy status, something it says it is due under the country’s 15-year-old ascension agreement to the World Trade Organization. European industry, however, argues that doing so would open the floodgates to unfairly traded goods and leave Europe without any effective trade measures.
“China is, quite simply, not a market economy,” said Axel Eggert, EUROFER’s director general. “It does not yet meet four out of the five EU criteria to be considered as such. To prematurely grant (market economy status) when China meets neither the EU criteria nor its WTO obligations would be economic and political folly.”
The march is being organized by AEGIS Europe, an industrial alliance representing nearly 30 sectors. The alliance, of which EUROFER is a part, has launched a public awareness campaign meant to drum opposition to granting the status.
“The march … strikes at the heart of the challenges facing the European steel industry. We are staunch advocates for free and fair trade. Dumped steel imports from China, volumes of which have doubled in 18 months, are flooding the EU market and directly causing irreversible closures and job losses across the EU steel sector,” Eggert said.
