This may include advertisements from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The bloc is going to impose tariffs on imports of screws in response to claims that they are being sold by China at artificially low prices. Price dumping is a practice that endangers production in the EU as it drives sales towards cheaper products.
An anti-dumping tariff of 86.5 percent is going to be introduced on imports of screws from China from February. Screws, bolts, and washers are an essential part of many electrical products, such as washing machines, solar panels, combine harvesters and cars. The European Commission proposed new tariffs that would double their price, with the wholesale industry warning that the legislation could mean the end of products made in Germany. The Association of Screws Wholesalers FDS warned that the consequences would be felt across a variety of sectors.
It said that the consequences will be felt in schools, in the food industry and in the health sector, where school desks, cooling devices and medical devices are held together by fasteners. Without the right screws, none of these end products could come onto the market, the manufacturer warned. The legislation is subject to a vote of the EU member states. Alexander Kolodzik, the FDS, said: For us this is the last hope. READ MORE: Joe Biden warned that China will'strike back' after Beijing fury.
EU screw manufacturers are pleased with the regulation. The DSV of the German Screw Association announced the new regulation was the beginning of fair regulation in the industry. The legislation was a result of a complaint from the European Industrial Fasteners Institute, the European umbrella organisation of the DSV. It has been complaining for years that China is importing screws into the EU at prices that are lower than the manufacturing costs. In 2009, the Commission imposed anti-dumping duties of 85 percent at the UK over the Brexit vote, but had to lift them in 2016 because of a lawsuit by China leveraged through the World Trade Organization WTO, which claimed the EU had used unrepresentative figures to justify the tariffs. Tensions between China and the West have been growing in recent weeks after the United States announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics in response to ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games in Beijing 2022, given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses. The Five Eyes intelligence alliance, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, have confirmed they will not be sending officials to the Games, which start on February 4, though their athletes will still take part. The EU has yet to announce a unified response after France said it would not be taking part in the boycott, dismissing it as insignificant.