China heightens tensions amid EU anti-subsidy probe 

The EU has launched three high-profile probes targeting Chinese companies in railway, solar, and security sectors this year under a new foreign subsidies regulation.

China warned the European Union it is prepared to take countermeasures against it if the series of anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese companies continues, according to a post on a state-media affiliated social media account.

The EU has launched three high-profile probes targeting Chinese companies in railway, solar, and security sectors this year under a new foreign subsidies regulation. It has also started a trade investigation into Chinese-made electric vehicles sold in the EU.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU said in a statement that the “European wine and dairy products may find themselves caught in the crossfire".

The EU said this month that it will close probes into bids by Chinese firms for a Romanian solar park because the companies are pulling out of the tender. That was the second time that Chinese companies have withdrawn from a tender after officials opened an inquiry under the subsidy regulation.

The Commission has increasingly warned that Chinese subsidised production threatens the EU’s internal market.

However, member states are divided on the issue of tariffs. The EU should boost electric-vehicle subsidies and avoid following the US into a tariff conflict with China, according to a proposal by Hungary earlier this month. German and Swedish leaders have also called for a cautious approach to tariffs.

Bloomberg