Taiwan started anti-dumping probes into beer and certain steel products from China, adding to a string of measures targeting Chinese exports by trade partners around the world.
Officials will start investigating whether some hot-rolled and flat-rolled steel products from China harm the domestic industry due to unfair competition, the Finance Ministry in Taipei said in a statement on Tuesday.
Beer made in China will also be the subject of an inquiry, according to a separate statement from the ministry, which said the beverage has been exported to Taiwan at artificially low prices, hurting the domestic industry.
The probes add to the challenges confronting China’s export engine, which has been a bright spot during a difficult economic recovery. A sweeping 25% US tariff on steel and aluminum imports to America is set to take effect Wednesday.
Taiwan has in the past imposed anti-dumping tariffs on goods from China, including cement chemical and metal products. The latest probe is the first such measure Taipei has aimed at China since 2023.
The trade investigations add to the already-tense cross-strait relationship since Beijing wants to bring the democracy of 23 million under its control someday, by force if that’s what it takes.
China shipped about 2.57 million tons of steel products to Taiwan in 2024, according to US trade data, making the archipelago the 12th biggest export destination for the product.
And China was the largest source of beer shipments to Taiwan last year, according to the Finance Ministry in Taipei. The total value exported was $125.4 million, nearly four times that from the Netherlands, the second biggest origin.
With assistance from Katharine Gemmell.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
