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Calls grow for tougher EU action on Chinese imports

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Some urge caution, fearing retaliation

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Imports have risen, but lack of evidence they are being

diverted

By Maria Martinez, Helen Reid and Philip Blenkinsop

BERLIN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - A century-old tyre retreading

firm based in a small town north of Hamburg in Germany kept

British occupation trucks rolling after World War Two. Now it

deals with newcomers of a different kind: heavily discounted

tyres from China.

The influx of imports has gathered momentum since U.S.

President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China, and the firm,

which has been the German unit of Italian group Marangoni since

1990, says the European Union needs to act to ensure fair

competition.

"When new truck tyres from Asia arrive at around 40% of a

premium new tyre's price - and sometimes even cheaper than a

retread - it's hard," its boss Clemens Zimmermann told Reuters.

"Under equal conditions, I have no problem competing. But if

one side has a heavy sword and the other a dull pocketknife,

that's not a fair fight," he said, pointing to tyre plant

closures across Germany this year.

Zimmermann, together with other industry bosses, as well as

governments, led by France and Italy, wants the European Union

to use its powers to protect local businesses and jobs. That

could mean resorting to swifter, more pragmatic ways of taking

on China, government sources have told Reuters.

As a backlog of trade cases has slowed already lengthy EU

investigations, the bloc has yet to check the rise in Chinese

imports. European businesses consider the increase indicates

that Chinese firms are compensating for lost U.S. markets by

selling cheaply elsewhere - not least because they already face

weak consumer demand in China.

While they do not prove China has deliberately redirected

its exports, figures reviewed by Reuters denote a shift.

This year the European Commission, the EU executive, has

opened 15 investigations and imposed final duties on 18 mostly

Chinese products, from tinplate to wooden flooring. Targeting

China's bigger export sectors would risk retaliation from

Beijing, which EU member states collectively have sought to

avoid.

Germany in particular has urged caution as its weakened

economy relies on a trade partnership with China, even as some

of its industries cannot compete.

'POTENTIALLY HARMFUL' JUMP IN SHIPMENTS

The Commission said an import surveillance task force

launched in April had found "potentially harmful increases of

imports" from China in 10 categories including textiles, timber,

chemicals, metals, machinery and transport equipment.

Plug-in hybrid car imports doubled in the first half of

2025, with just over half from China. For lower-volume

speciality products, from laminated lumber to nuclear reactor

parts, increases were up to tenfold.

Chinese exports to the U.S., meanwhile, fell by 27% on the

year in September, China's customs data show. Shipments to the

EU grew by just over 14%.

Fast fashion and cheap homeware made in China have also

entered Europe at a quicker pace, ordered online via platforms

such as Alibaba's AliExpress, and PDD's Temu and Shein that have

spent on marketing in Europe to drive sales since U.S. tariffs

took effect.

These online platforms send products from factories in China

to shoppers' doorsteps, taking advantage of the EU's duty-free

treatment of e-commerce packages worth less than 150 euros

($175).

Exports to the EU have jumped since the U.S. in May scrapped

its "de minimis" policy on parcels under $800 from China. By the

end of September, Chinese exports to the EU of low-value goods

ordered online already exceeded the 2024 total, Chinese customs

data released on Monday showed.

At Liege Airport in Belgium, a logistics hub for Alibaba,

total air cargo volumes were up 23% in July-September compared

to the same period a year ago. "One of the main drivers is the

increased e-commerce flows from China to Europe," Torsten

Wefers, the airport's vice president of sales and marketing,

said.

The number of EU users of Shein, Temu and Alibaba's

AliExpress apps has risen this year, according to filings

required by EU law, while Amazon's Temu copycat, Amazon Haul,

this month started offering its "ultra-low-priced products" in

France, Italy, and Spain after launching in Germany in June.

"Shein and Temu and other players in the market really want

to double down on Europe as a market," said Chris Bode, vice

president of global air freight at Bangkok-based Rhenus

Logistics, of the impact of U.S. trade barriers on China.

At an event launching Milan Fashion Week in September, Carlo

Capasa, president of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion,

sounded the alarm.

"Exports are decreasing, imports are increasing, and we need

to pay attention here because this surge in imports is coming

from China and Far East countries," Capasa said. "We're

witnessing a real invasion of ultra fast fashion products in our

markets."

In a response to Reuters queries, Alibaba said it "has been

facilitating both exports and imports in Europe for many years"

and that European sellers increasingly use its AliExpress

platform to reach customers around the world, including in

China.

Amazon did not comment on increased low-value exports from

China to the EU, saying only that Amazon Haul offers products

"from both local and international destinations". Temu declined

to comment. Shein did not respond to Reuters' request for

comment.

BUT IS THIS TRADE DIVERSION?

Industry lobbies, including Eurocommerce, representing

retailers, and Euratex, representing textile and clothing

manufacturers, have voiced concern over rising low-priced

imports.

Among government demands for action, an Italian government

official said Rome is advocating safeguards to impose temporary

curbs on some imports from China. France has pushed for tariffs

and quotas on chemicals and cars.

But the European Commission has yet to rule on whether there

is clear evidence of dumping at artificial prices - for example

because of state subsidies. And those worried about the risk of

countermeasures from China insist the bar should be high.

Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber

of Commerce DIHK, said the EU should first use the WTO complaint

process against any evidence of illegal subsidies and resort to

targeted trade measures only "where absolutely necessary".

Others note that the yuan's weakness against the euro - at

8.3 versus 7.5 at the start of the year - automatically makes

Chinese imports cheaper.

Simon Evenett, professor of geopolitics and strategy at IMD

Business School, said that aside from the case of Chinese steel,

there was "no smoking gun" of systematic redirection of Chinese

exports into Europe because of U.S. measures, and that the shift

had been more pronounced into ASEAN countries and Africa.

The Commission said in response to a Reuters inquiry it

sought further data from companies, associations and countries

to identify products at risk from import surges so it could take

"timely and effective action" to protect the EU market.

A BACKLOG OF CASES

One challenge for European industry is to get cases heard as

the Commission deals with the backlog that has accrued.

Laurent Ruessmann, partner at RB Legal, said the Commission

would previously typically launch an investigation six-to-nine

months after a sector approached it. Now it can take twice as

long.

"Chinese overcapacity is growing and product after product

is heading here. Cases are coming in faster, but there is a

growing backlog," he said.

The EU executive's chief trade enforcement officer Denis

Redonnet told the European Parliament last month that EU trade

measures were imperfect. He said they were often imposed long

after market distortions and did not tackle the source of the

problem - Chinese overcapacity.

Tariff quota systems rather than anti-dumping or

anti-subsidy tariffs can be implemented more quickly. The EU has

announced plans to cut import quotas and double out-of-quota

tariffs to 50% for steel and may impose safeguards for alloying

elements by the end of the year.

Some EU states are acting unilaterally: Italy plans to use

an EU scheme that requires manufacturers to cover the costs of

collecting, sorting and recycling their products as a de facto

levy on Chinese fast fashion products, government sources say.

German online clothing retailer Zalando is among

those pushing the European Commission to fast-track the removal

of the 150-euro de minimis threshold, set for March 2028 under

the current customs reform plan.

France and Germany have meanwhile discussed possible "local

content" and technology-transfer requirements for some Chinese

investments.

Whether any action will come soon enough for Marangoni's

Zimmermann and the European tyre business remains to be seen.

Chinese imports have risen for at least five years despite

tariffs on heavy truck tyres. An anti-dumping investigation for

lighter vehicle tyres was only launched in May and such

enquiries can take up to 14 months. Provisional measures are

possible in half that time.

EU data, meanwhile, show imports of Chinese tyres for

passenger cars have risen by a further 20% in the first six

months of this year.

"There's awareness of the situation at least," Florent

Menegaux, CEO of French tyre-maker Michelin, said at an event

this week. "But as yet, the action is lacking."

($1 = 0.8542 euros)

(Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome; Marius Zaharia

in Hong Kong; Gilles Guillaume and Thomas Leigh in Paris;

Francesco Canepa in Frankfurt; Lisa Jucca in Milan; Writing by

Maria Martinez and Mark John; Editing by Barbara Lewis)