France says still room for negotiation over China’s brandy tariffs

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Shanghai, China — French foreign trade minister Sophie Primas on Monday said the window for negotiation with Beijing over tariffs on European brandy was open but warned Paris could take “all possible” measures in response.

Beijing in October announced provisional tariffs on European Union brandy imports, part of an escalating trade row between Beijing and Brussels.

Most Chinese imports of the spirit come from France and the country’s cognac makers have begged Paris to put an end to the spat, describing themselves as “hostages”.

“France is in favor of negotiations, obviously. We are not in an escalating trade war, so we need to enter negotiations,” Primas told reporters in Shanghai on Monday.

READ: EU slaps extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese EVs

Primas had an hour-and-a-quarter-long meeting with commerce minister Wang Wentao on Sunday evening ahead of a major trade show.

She said Monday she had told Wang that France was prepared “to take all possible technical and legal measures”.

“We don’t want it to come to that,” she stressed.

“The window for negotiation… is clearly open,” she said, adding that she expected high-level talks to take place soon.

France maintains that the measures against brandy are political, designed to put the European Union under pressure after the bloc imposed tariffs of up to 35.3 percent on Chinese electric vehicles over unfair competition claims.

The EV measures featured prominently in Primas and Wang’s discussions, both sides said.

A second phase of consultations over the measures between the EU and China recently began.

“France, as an important member state of the EU, should play an active role in urging the European Commission to show sincerity,” Wang was quoted as saying in a readout from his ministry.

READ: China will not impose tariffs on European brandy

As well as the provisional brandy tariffs, Beijing has also launched anti-dumping probes into some European pork and dairy imports.

Brussels is also investigating Chinese subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines.

Primas said she had come to China with a message of “both openness and firmness”.

“Our manufacturers and farmers have been working with China for a very, very long time… we want these bilateral relations to continue to exist and to continue to grow and strengthen,” she said.

“On the other hand… we have firm positions in favor of acting in a commercial world of free competition and under fair and reciprocal conditions,” she said.