China Responds to EU Ban on Medical Devices With Import Restrictions of Its Own

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Jul 7, 2025 - 09:54 Updated: Jul 7, 2025 - 09:50
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China Responds to EU Ban on Medical Devices With Import Restrictions of Its Own
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China unveiled new restrictions on July 6 that further limits European medical device companies’ access to its market, as a retaliatory tactic amid the trade tensions with the 27-nation bloc.

Government procurement contracts valued at over 45 million yuan ($6.3 million) will exclude companies based in the European Union, according to an online notice from the Chinese communist regime’s Ministry of Finance. The ban will not apply to European companies that operate and manufacture within China, it said.

The ministry also placed restrictions on non-EU suppliers, requiring them to keep the medical equipment imported from the EU to 50 percent or less of the total contract value, according to the statement. These new measures took effect on July 6.

Beijing’s decision was a response to restrictions introduced by Brussels in June that bar Chinese companies and products from participating in public procurement tenders for medical devices, according to a separate statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce on July 6.

A spokesperson for the regime’s commerce ministry blamed the EU for continuing to “pursue its own path.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the European Commission, the 27-member bloc’s executive arm, for comment.

In June, the commission decided to exclude Chinese medical device companies from participating in bids for public contracts worth more than 5 million euros ($5.7 million).
The decision stemmed from a monthslong investigation by the EU regulators, who concluded the Chinese regime limited the access of EU medical device producers to its government contracts “in an unfair and discriminatory way,” the commission said in a summary of its findings released in January.
In a detailed report, the commission revealed such practices were driven by Beijing’s state policies, including an industrial program aimed at transforming the country into a high-tech manufacturing hub by 2025.
Known as “Made in China 2025,” this initiative identifies high-performance medical devices as one of the 10 core industries and sets specific goals for Chinese hospitals to procure domestically made high-end medical devices, aiming for 70 percent by 2025 and 95 percent by 2030.

The EU’s investigators found that the Chinese regime also established a procurement system that incentivizes companies to win tenders by offering prices that are often unsustainable for profit-driven foreign firms. Beijing’s state support for local medical manufacturers enables them to offer even lower bids, according to the report. In some cases, the commission found that such state support leads to price cuts exceeding 90 percent, effectively pushing foreign companies out of the market.

The Chinese ministry’s latest announcement came as its top diplomat, Wang Yi, wrapped up a weeklong tour of Europe aimed at laying the groundwork for a leaders’ summit in Beijing later this month.

The summit will mark 50 years since the Chinese regime and the EU established formal diplomatic relations, with the European delegation led by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa.
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Nonetheless, tensions between the world’s second- and third-largest economies remain high. On July 4, China’s commerce ministry slapped duties of up to 34.9 percent on brandy imported from the EU. A number of major producers are exempt from the new tariffs after they promised to raise prices above a minimum threshold in the Chinese market. The ministry didn’t disclose the minimum prices.
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China initiated its own anti-dumping probe into European liquors in January 2024, as part of its retaliatory measures against the EU’s tariff hikes on electric vehicles (EVs) made in China. The trade dispute has already been brought to the World Trade Organization by the EU.
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