Two Chinese industry associations on Tuesday called on the EU to uphold WTO rules and remove its anti-dumping duty on steel fasteners from China after the WTO ruled in favor of Chinese makers.
China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products and China General Machine Components Industry Ass. made the joint statement after the WTO said that EU tariffs on fastener imports from China during the past years were illegal.
The EU imposed anti-dumping duty on Chinese fasteners in January 2009, prompting the Chinese government to file a complaint with the WTO, which ruled against aspects of the EU measures in 2011.
Although the EU reduced its levies to an average 54.1 percent in 2012 from 77.5 percent, the bloc has failed to make amends, prompting China to bring the case to the WTO again.
"If the EU does not withdraw the anti-dumping duty, the associations will ask the Chinese government to take further action according to WTO rules," the statement said.
Following the WTO ruling, the Ministry of Commerce on Monday said the anti-dumping measures had affected 1 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese exports and more than 100,000 jobs in China, resulting in huge economic losses to the industry.
The ministry urged the EU to respect the latest ruling, "or China reserves the rights to take further action under the WTO framework".