EU commissioner attacks China’s telecoms subsidies

Karel De Gucht, the European Union’s top trade official, has attacked China’s subsidizing of its mobile telecommunications equipment sector even as he announced that Brussels would not pursue an investigation into the alleged unfair pricing of these products in Europe.

The EU trade commissioner announced that Brussels would not proceed with a long-mooted anti-dumping investigation into Chinese mobile equipment companies such as Huawei and ZTE. De Gucht said the EU was unlikely to reach a settlement over what is arguably the biggest outstanding trade case with China, one involving the government subsidies that Chinese telecommunications giants allegedly benefit from. The EU has threatened for years to launch a formal investigation into what it says are illegal government subsidies to the Chinese telecommunications sector that give them an unfair advantage in global markets. Such an investigation could result in the European Commission applying punitive tariffs on Chinese mobile equipment entering the EU.