GENEVA — European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Tuesday called on China to remove unfair trade barriers and threatened to take the case to the World Trade Organization if Beijing failed to act.
“Where we have a strong case and where all efforts have failed, Europe will use the WTO dispute settlement system to ensure the obligations are met and rules enforced,” Mandelson said at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, where he launched a new policy strategy paper on EU-China trade and investment.
The paper argues that barriers to market access “are preventing a genuinely reciprocal trading relationship between Europe and China.” It said China has maintained a number of peak tariffs in industries of major importance for the EU, such as textiles and apparel, leather and fur, footwear, ceramics, steel and automotives.
The EU trade chief said the bottom line is that both sides need to arrive at “a proper accommodation” of each other’s economic interests.
“Europe has a huge stake in an economically strong and stable China,” Mandelson said. “Europe has to accept fierce competition. China has to ensure it is fair competition.”
From 2000 to 2005, EU exports to China increased by more than 100 percent. In 2005, China’s exports to the EU were valued at 158 billion euros, or $198.5 billion at current exchange, and EU exports to China at 52 billion euros, or $65.3 billion, resulting in a trade deficit for the 25-member country bloc of 106 billion euros, or $133.2 billion.
Referring to recent bilateral trade disputes sparked by surges in Chinese shipments, Mandelson said, “We managed on textiles. We coped on shoes. Undoubtedly, formal contacts and personal relations are good. But a trade relationship of the sort that we have needs to be worked at more intensively, from a clear road map.”
However, he also stressed, “China is not a globalization scare story. It is a globalization success story. We must keep it that way.”
China’s growth has also meant “cheaper goods in European shops, cheaper inputs in business, competitive stimulus for European companies, growing markets for Europe’s exporters, lower interest rates and lower inflation at home,” Mandelson said.