EU’s Michel to meet Chinese PM as trade row festers

European Council President Charles Michel will hold face-to-face talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang as a trade row between Brussels and Beijing escalates, an official told AFP on Thursday.

The meeting on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian regional summit in Vientiane comes days after China announced provisional tariffs on European brandy imports — the latest salvo in a growing exchange of tit-for-tat penalties.

China and the European Union are major economic partners but they are at odds over Beijing’s generous subsidies for its industries, which Brussels says unfairly drive down the price of Chinese exports, undercutting European competitors.

Michel will meet Li on Friday morning at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Laos capital, an EU official told AFP.

The 27-member bloc has decided to slap extra tariffs of up to 35.3 percent on imports of Chinese-made electric cars, infuriating Beijing which slammed the move as “protectionist”.

In response China launched a probe into imports of EU-made brandy and on Tuesday announced new tariffs, saying European “dumping” was threatening domestic spirit producers.

Brussels is also investigating Chinese subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines, while Beijing is probing EU subsidies of some dairy and pork products imported into China.  (BSS/AFP)