China Sets Steep Duties on European Dairy Products in Tit-for-Tat Response

Dec 23, 2025 - 10:56

Updated: 6 months ago

China Sets Steep Duties on European Dairy Products in Tit-for-Tat Response

The Chinese communist regime on Dec. 22 imposed provisional duties on dairy products shipped from the European Union, the latest retaliation against the 27-nation bloc’s probe of its electric vehicles (EVs) subsidies.

The new tariff rates vary by European cheese manufacturer and range from 21.9 percent to 42.7 percent, according to a ruling issued by the regime’s Ministry of Commerce.

The investigation into imported dairy products, including fresh and processed cheeses and certain milk and cream products from the EU, began in August 2024, shortly after Brussels unveiled a plan to levy tariffs on EVs made in China.

In its preliminary findings released on Dec. 22, the Chinese commerce ministry said that dairy products from the EU were subsidized, causing “substantial damage” to domestic producers.

As a result, importers will be required to pay extra customs duties in the form of cash deposits, the ministry said. The preliminary measures take effect on Dec. 23.

While the new levies could be reduced once Beijing issues its final ruling, the decision risks heightening tensions with Europe.

Last week, Beijing also announced additional tariffs on pork and pig byproducts from the EU, ranging from 4.9 percent to 19.8 percent. The levies, which are significantly lower than the preliminary rates announced in a September ruling, will remain in place for five years.

China also slapped anti-dumping duties—up to 34.9 percent—on European brandy in July, although most of the cognac brands from France were exempted if they sold at or above a minimum price.

In September last year, then-EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis criticized Beijing’s probes of its brandy, pork, and dairy products as “unjustified” and “based on questionable allegations,” according to the European Commission.

The EU’s executive arm has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Beijing’s anti-subsidy probe of its dairy products.

In the first eight months of the year, the EU has seen a 15 percent drop in cheese exports to China from the same period last year, according to its official statistics.

The EU is the world’s leading cheese exporter, with most of its products selling to the UK, the United States, and Japan.

Beijing’s latest action against European cheese and milk producers follows Brussels’ ramping up of pressure on the regime’s nonmarket trade policies and practices. In October 2024, the EU imposed tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese EVs, following a year-long investigation that concluded that automakers in China benefit from unfair state subsidies, which threaten to harm the bloc’s homegrown auto industry.

This year, the EU has imposed final duties on 18 Chinese products and launched 15 investigations into various imports from China, according to the Chinese commerce ministry. On Dec. 19 alone, the European Commission initiated three anti-dumping investigations into Chinese imports, targeting items ranging from mobile cranes to pea protein.