Brussels had announced the probe on February 16, with EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton at the time saying CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive was thought to have relied on subsidies to “submit an unduly advantageous offer” to try to win the tender for electric trains in Bulgaria.
EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said that Europe’s single market remained open “for firms that are truly competitive and play fair” but that Brussels will take “all necessary measures to preserve Europe’s economic security and competitiveness”.
The headline sounded odd considering EU countries aren’t exactly averse to subsidies, but the kicker is this:
So it’s protectionism that’ll apply especially to poorer and up-and-coming countries that don’t have established private megacorps (i.e. their companies depend on economic strategies like window guidance to grow).
I’m neutral about protectionism in general, but contextually it can have negative outcomes - e.g. the EU’s agricultural policies have not been good for poorer countries. At a time when poorer countries are bleeding money as we can see by tracking Net Resource Transfers (with China being one of the few exceptions), it’s a little tougher to be happy about policies like these.
The EU just looked into the potential for dumping. They were not finished with the process and therefore did not punish CRRC at all.
Also China is not that poor. GDP per capita is only a third less then that of Romania.
Indeed. Seems like EU is dead set on joining the US economic war on China.