The 27 fear that the European pig sector will pay the price "broken plates" of the trade dispute with China

EU Commissioner defends free trade to prevent agriculture from becoming “victim of the problems of other sectors”

BRUSSELS, Jul 15 () –

EU agriculture ministers fear that Europe’s farming sector will bear the brunt of the trade dispute with China over Beijing’s anti-dumping investigation into imports of pork and relevant pork by-products from the European Union in retaliation for EU tariffs on its electric cars.

The Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, István Nagy, acting as President of the Council, explained this Monday at a press conference after the meeting of the ministers of the sector in Brussels that several delegations had expressed their “concern” regarding the investigation of China. “We are very afraid that agriculture will pay the price for other sectors,” he lamented.

This concern was also noted by the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, who argued that free trade with China could have prevented this situation: “Open trade is needed to prevent agriculture from falling victim to the problems of other sectors.”

Along the same lines, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, stressed upon his arrival at the meeting that, “in general, the agricultural sector is not usually at the origin of trade differences, but it is always the favourite target of retaliatory measures, because it affects all citizens in terms of increased costs.”

The minister has pointed out that the Commission is maintaining contact with the Chinese authorities and is therefore confident that a “constructive” solution can be found to what Planas has already described as a “trade war” between the two partners.

Several delegations agree that it is “too early” to know what the consequences of EU tariffs on Chinese electric cars will be for agri-food products and admit that, in any case, it will be a “very long” process in which the Commission will keep the Twenty-Seven informed about specific developments, although no decisions or measures are expected in the short term.

Despite growing concern among Member States with a greater share of pork exports in their economies, the same sources have indicated that China was expected to take protective measures now that its production sector has “recovered” and they view it as “positive” that the EU has been able to “take the initiative and diversify markets” to avoid further disruptions.