Major EU countries push for tougher China policy ahead of Brussels debate

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Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Lithuania call for more aggressive response to ‘systemic and structural industrial overcapacity’

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Finbarr Berminghamin BrusselsPublished: 12:00pm, 25 May 2026A coalition of major EU member states is pushing Brussels towards a much tougher trade regime aimed at combating Chinese-style industrial overcapacity, including faster emergency tariffs, broader safeguards and new anti-circumvention powers.

A paper signed by Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Lithuania days before a major China-focused debate in Brussels said the bloc must respond more aggressively to “systemic and structural industrial overcapacity” – phrases often taken as shorthand for Beijing.

The intervention comes as the European Commission prepares for a China policy orientation debate on Friday designed to chart a new course in light of growing complaints from governments and industries about the economic pressure caused by Chinese competition.

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The paper – which has not been released publicly and which was first reported on by the Financial Times – calls for much more aggressive use of EU safeguard measures for sector-wide disruption, rather than product-by-product anti-dumping cases.

These allow for tariffs or quotas to be imposed where import surges are seen to be harming local industry. They have been used sparingly in the past, notably to counter surges in Chinese steel and ferroalloys, which are products used in the steel industry.

The paper – seen by the South China Morning Post – floats the adoption of a new “resilience tool”, to be “activated when European supply sources are concentrated beyond a specified threshold”.

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