EU sues China at WTO, flatly refuses Beijing one thing and doesn't worry about retaliation

The EU opposes China's imposition of anti-dumping measures on imported brandy. (Source: Emodnet)

Beijing's move is believed to be a response to the European Commission (EC) after the agency imposed additional import duties on electric vehicles manufactured in China.

“We believe these measures are unfounded and we are determined to protect EU industry against the abuse of trade protectionist instruments,” said EC trade spokesman Olof Gill.

China's Ministry of Commerce has released a detailed list of the tariffs each company will have to pay, ranging from 30.6% for Martell to 39% for Jas Hennessy and 38.1% for Remy Martin.

Last week, EU countries officially gave the green light to impose additional taxes of up to 35.3% on electric cars produced in the world's second largest economy , despite strong opposition from Germany.

EU economics commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said it was "reasonable" and said the bloc was "never worried" about retaliation.

“We have a serious countervailing duty investigation that was launched last year into Chinese electric vehicles,” he said.

Sources close to the matter said the 27-member bloc had also rejected a proposal by the Chinese government to impose a floor price of 30,000 euros ($32,946) on imported electric vehicles produced in the world’s second-largest economy.