The European Union has been rebuked by the World Trade Organisation for the way it imposes extra duties on imports it deems unfairly priced, with potential implications for a wide range of products ranging from shoes to glazed tiles.
In a notable victory for China, a WTO panel found in an interim report that the EU's practice of imposing a single national blanket duty on imports covered by so-called “anti-dumping” measures breaks global trade rules.
The case is another example of a trend in international trade diplomacy – WTO member governments seeking to circumscribe their trading partners' use of anti-dumping and other emergency blocks on imports by litigation at the WTO.