The European Union flags in front of EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: Xinhua

The Europe Commission (EC) announced on Thursday that it has published a regulation imposing definitive anti-dumping duties of up to 45.3 percent on imports of passenger car and light lorry tyres originating in China and has launched a so-called anti-dumping investigation into Chinese Peking duck. 

The probe into imports of Peking duck, which represent a tiny section of bilateral trade but an iconic Chinese product, is notable and carries a major symbolic message. It signals Brussels' attempt to further expand its trade aggressions with China, in an apparent bid to gain leverage in potential talks, seriously undermining bilateral efforts to stabilize ties, Chinese experts said. 

The European Commission (EC) launched an investigation on Thursday into Chinese Peking duck after several EU producers complained of unfairly low prices harming their industry, according to Euro News. Some media reports noted that this will be the first so-called anti-dumping case initiated by the EU against Chinese agri-food products.

In an online post on Thursday, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) highlighted the negative trend reflected by this move.

"This trend indicates that the EC's focus of its so-called trade defense measures may be expanding from the industrial manufacturing sector to that of agri-food imports," read the CCCEU post. 

The EU market for duck was worth an estimated 800 million euros ($915 million) in 2025, and imports from China were 199 million euros, according to the Financial Times. That represents only a small fraction of the total China-EU trade, which reached 5.93 trillion yuan ($860 billion) in 2025, according to Chinese customs data.

The targeting of Peking duck meat, a small commodity but bearing strong symbolic significance, highlighted the EU's obstinacy in continuing to expand its protectionist trade measures against China in recent years, with the apparent aim to gain more cards in potential trade negotiations with China, said Yang Chengyu, an expert on European affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Despite certain progress having been made in recent rounds of engagement, the EU actions taken on Thursday showed that it continues to pile on new protectionist measures and enlarge its so-called toolkit in its trade aggression toward China," Yang told the Global Times on Friday.

Chinese and EU officials have recently stepped up engagements. On June 29, China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Šefčovič co-chaired the first meeting of the mechanism in Brussels, Belgium. Šefčovič has been invited to visit China this autumn to co-chair the second meeting of the newly established China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on July 2.

Meanwhile, more EU actions targeting China were also reported on Thursday. According to a Reuters report, Brussels has drafted a new EU procurement rule that will seek to harness the EU's collective purchasing power to favor the bloc's own companies and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. 

Although the draft document does not specifically name China, the EC has adopted relevant policies as it seeks to reduce China's dominance of critical materials production and narrow a trade gap, Reuters noted.

The EU's protectionist moves have sparked concerns from the business community.

The CCCEU on Friday slammed the EU's so-called anti-dumping duties on Chinese passenger car and light truck tyres, saying that the additional tariffs may create further cost pressures across the broader automotive ecosystem, affecting both Chinese and EU companies throughout the value chain.

"We hope trade defense measures can continue to be applied in a fair, transparent and proportionate manner, supporting a stable and predictable China-EU trade environment," the CCCEU said in a statement to the Global Times.

The EU's latest round of protectionist actions against Chinese products runs counter to the EU's stated goals to "stabilize bilateral relationship" with China and undermines bilateral efforts to address disputes through consultation, according to Zhang Jian, a vice president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"The EU needs to align its actions with its words and stop shifting blame and take up a serious attitude in stabilizing the important China-EU trade ties," Zhang told the Global Times on Friday. 

Notably, the two sides have kept communication over trade issues. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative Ling Ji held a video meeting with Deputy Director-General Denis Redonnet of the EC's Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security, during which they exchanged views on China-EU economic and trade relations on Thursday, the MOFCOM said on Friday.