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other European Union members, several sources said.
Despite fears in Berlin and 17 other EU nations that the move could unleash a full-scale trade war with Beijing, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht “will publish the establishment of these provisional levies today”, said an EU source familiar the issue who spoke on condition of anonymity.
When asked if a decision to impose the duties was likely today, another well-placed European source confirmed, saying “these are the indications we have”.
The tariffs to be announced today — and expected to average out at 47 percent — will be provisional, lasting six months and allowing room for negotiation.
A final decision would come only in December, when EU member states would have to vote to make them permanent or not.
The stakes are high, commercially and politically.
On the one hand, EU-China trade is worth more than 500 billion euros annually, a powerful incentive for everyone to keep calm at a time when both sides, and especially the 27-member EU, are looking to trade to boost growth and jobs.
On the other, the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is caught between Germany, the bloc’s paymaster and biggest economy which has come out openly against duties, and France, which favours them as a way of showing that the bloc will stand up to Beijing in trade disputes. — AFP.
Online Reporter