The European Commission has justified its extension of taxes on Chinese leather upper footwear imports as "the right thing to do" after Beijing took this case to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The issue arises from the EU's decision in December to extend by another 15 months anti-dumping taxes of 16.5% and 10% on imports of leather upper footwear from China and Vietnam respectively.
"China has made a request for consultations to the WTO dispute settlement body regarding the anti-dumping measures taken by the EU against Chinese shoes," Beijing's commerce ministry said in a statement on its website. "[We have] officially launched a WTO dispute settlement procedure."
Acting EU Commission Trade Spokesman John Clancy responded: "Anti-dumping measures are not about protectionism, they are about fighting unfair trade... In this respect we believe this is the right action to be taken." He added that Europe was in no mood to lift the levies despite the Chinese pressure.
"The decision to impose measures was taken on the basis of clear evidence that dumping of Chinese products has taken place and that this is harming the otherwise competitive EU industry," he stressed.
However, many European shop owners and some shoe brands say they are the real victims because the charges forced them to pay more for the vast number of shoes now made in China. The European Footwear Alliance (EFA) openly supports Beijing's position as its members produce in China a lot of the shoes which are penalised.
"Ironically, the measure hurts European business and consumers the most," the footwear alliance said in a statement reacting to China's decision to take the matter to the WTO.
China's official complaint initiates a 60-day consultation period, after which the country can ask the WTO to establish an investigative panel. If the WTO rules against Brussels, it can authorize China to target European goods with higher tariffs or other penalties in retaliation, though cases generally take years to reach that point, an industry source said.
