A top trade official of the European Union had, for the first time, officially cited mobile telecommunications manufacturers Huawei and ZTE Corp. Both Chinese companies have been cited for violations of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy guidelines.
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht announced he was preparing to launch a formal inquiry into the anti-competitive actions of the two cited Chinese firms in order to protect an important and strategic sector of the European economy.
De Gucht said, during an exclusive Reuters interview, "Huawei and ZTE are dumping their products in the European market." This was done before meeting with US businesses as part of his agenda in negotiating a free trade pact with the United States. These Transatlantic free trade talks would begin by July.
The inquiry would focus into the sales policies and practices of these Chinese telecommunications firms and would open a new venue to take the offensive against a multi billion euro trading partner.
The European Union is the most important trading partner of China but for the EU, China runs second to the United States. Goods exported from the Asian giant totalled Eur290 billion while Euro exports to China was at Eur144 billion.
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