The Diplomat The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, assured yesterday that the Government will defend the interests of the Spanish pork sector in the face of possible measures by the Chinese authorities, after, starting today, the European Union begins to apply tariffs to the import of electric cars from China. The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) yesterday published the imposition, starting this Friday, of tariffs of up to almost 38% that the bloc will impose from tomorrow, Friday, on battery-electric cars imported from China, although it will do so in a temporary while it negotiates with Beijing a long-term "solution" for the subsidies that Chinese manufacturers receive and that Europeans see as an "unfair" advantage against their brands. In mid-June, when the European Commission approved the imposition of these tariffs, China responded by announcing the opening of an anti-dumping investigation against imports of European milk and pork. The measure would especially affect Spain, the leading pork exporter in Europe and second in the world. Yesterday, Planas, who was in Pamplona to attend a meeting of the Sectoral Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development, told reporters that he is "preparing the documentation in response to the request made by the Chinese authorities." And he insisted that the Government will defend the pork sector “which deserves all the support,” he said. In any case, given that the European Union and China are still negotiating on the issue of tariffs, the minister was in favor of doing everything possible to avoid a trade war. "There is room for negotiation," said Planas, who warned that "trade wars are not good; you know how they start and you don't know how they end." "Agri-food trade wars," he explained, "make no sense and above all they harm our citizens, which is why precisely when there is a trade war, retaliatory measures, think for example of the Airbus-Boeing case, focus on the agri-food sector. , they impact the population and have a political effect. The minister noted that both he and the head of Economy, Business and Commerce have spoken with the European Commission to try to avoid the trade war with China "and particularly, he said, that we avoid the imposition of tariffs, a measure that would seem absolutely unfair to me." regarding our pork sector. Yesterday, the chief spokesman of the European Commission, Eric Mamer, stated at a press conference in Brussels that "tariffs are not an objective 'per se' but an instrument to correct an imbalance." The common rules on competition provide that in this type of file the Community Executive can introduce provisional charges after the first nine months of an investigation before making a final decision after the maximum 13 months that the file can extend. , which in this case will be November. Mamer added that the European Commission, which speaks on behalf of the 27 in trade matters, wants to continue the 'dialogue' with the Chinese authorities in the interests of an 'effective' solution for all, which, as he specified, would be an agreement that "corrects the unfair advantage that producers in China enjoy. The spokesperson made it clear that the taxes that the European Union will impose starting this Friday are the result of a careful investigation, which has lasted nine months and that makes it possible to demonstrate in a "factual" way that Chinese dumping is harming both the European automobile industry and the jobs that depend on it. The issue generates division among the 27 themselves since there are governments that view the measure with doubts for fear of a trade war with the Asian giant - such as Germany or Sweden - and others that defend it, as is the case of Spain and France. If between now and November Brussels considers that the tariffs should become definitive, it must then present a formal proposal to the Twenty-Seven, which can approve or overturn the decision by a qualified majority. If the capitals fail to gain the necessary majority either for or against, the Community Executive may then impose tariffs.
