The European Union is preparing 20 new anti-dumping investigations against China, according to former EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom speaking at an event hosted by the Institute for International and Economic Affairs in Dublin. “So I think they will be opened consecutively in the coming weeks,” said the former Swedish official. Responding to questions from the South China Morning Post, Malmstrom described Beijing as “a complicated partner” that has “very cleverly taken advantage of countries across the world who are disappointed with the United States” since the return of President Donald Trump at the beginning of the year. “Many people said that now, when the EU and U.S. have increasing tensions, this will push the EU towards China. That hasn’t happened,” she said. “Other countries have been pushed towards China, but not the EU – we still have these massive concerns.”
While the European Commission did not confirm the comments, a series of top officials have spoken in recent days about their mounting grievances with Beijing’s trade policies. These have been amplified by the perceived threat of trade diversion emanating from Trump’s tariffs, which has led to fears that under-pressure Chinese exporters will reroute their goods to Europe at a discount, thereby endangering local producers. Officials have complained about China’s industrial overcapacity and “weaponization” of its global market dominance in rare earth minerals and magnets, through the roll-out of new rules in April requiring licenses to export the commodities that has led to dozens of industrial closures in Europe.
“This is a clear example of the weaponization of dependencies,” said the EU Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand, who said the Commission had lodged a complaint against China’s provisional tariffs on EU pork imports, which she said showed “significant shortcomings” under global trading rules. “We are now assessing these provisional measures and will consider all options to protect the EU industry and our economic interest,” Weyand said. While the pace of trade investigations has slowed this year – there have been eight new anti-dumping cases against Beijing in 2025, compared to 20 over the course of 2024 – officials say that the situation has not improved.
The EU used its international procurement instrument for the first time against China earlier in the year, blocking its firms from lucrative public tenders across the single market, while there were “serious discussions” taking place about triggering the anti-coercion instrument against China, which would also mark its first use. The Commission is preparing to impose tariffs from 25% to 50% on Chinese steel products, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced earlier this month the roll-out of “buy Europe” provisions to help bolster EU industry, the South China Morning Post reports.
