China has hit the EU’s soft underbelly in its fight over electric vehicle imports: pork. Poultry and beef could be next — especially chicken feet and other bits that Europeans do not tend to eat, but depend on selling.
It is a telling choice by Beijing. Food and drink are these days among the few products that China buys more of than it sells to the bloc, and they have been the first in the line of fire as Beijing retaliates over antisubsidy tariffs of up to 38 per cent on electric cars.
This shift underlines how the EU-China trade relationship has been turned on its head since Beijing joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. China has moved up the value chain fast, becoming a research and development powerhouse at the centre of global supply chains. Its trade surplus with Europe has ballooned in advanced equipment such as batteries, solar panels and cell phones.