The European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation on Thursday into Chinese Peking duck, following complaints from five EU producers that unfairly low prices and state subsidies are harming domestic industry. If the probe, expected to take roughly a year, confirms dumping, Brussels would impose tariffs on fresh, frozen, and smoked duck from China — a country that produces about 480 million of the world's 500 million tonnes of duck meat annually.
The case adds to escalating trade friction. The EU's 2024 tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles triggered retaliatory Chinese measures targeting European brandy, pork, and dairy. The bloc's trade deficit with China now exceeds one billion euros per day.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held their first trade and investment dialogue in Brussels last Monday. Šefčovič has warned the EU will act if no progress on reducing the trade gap is made by October, when he is scheduled to visit Beijing.