Last August the 30th Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis analyzed the Commission activity in this field during 2020.
At the end of 2020, the EU had 150 trade defence measures in force – 128 anti-dumping, 19 anti-subsidy and 3 safeguard measures -, in line with previous years’ activity levels with an increase in the number of cases lodged towards the end of 2020. In addition, for the first time, the Commission addressed a new type of subsidy given by third countries in the form of cross-border financial support that was a serious challenge for EU companies.
The highest number of EU trade defence measures concerns imports from: China (99 measures); Russia (9 measures); India (7 measures); and The United States (6 measures).
In relation with the new types of subsidies the Commission imposed countervailing duties on cross-border financial support given by China to Chinese-owned companies manufacturing glass fibre fabrics and continuous filament glass fibre products based in Egypt for export to the EU.
This means that, for the first time, the Commission addressed cross-border subsidies given by a country to enterprises located in another country for exports to the EU. (Source: European Commission).