China targets European companies in EU dairy anti-subsidy investigation

By Mei Mei Chu BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday targeted Dutch firm FrieslandCampina and French and Italian companies in an anti-subsidy probe into dairy imports from the European Union, after lawmakers from those countries voted to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The world’s second-largest economy began investigating imports of some cheese, milk and cream from the European Union in August. Details of the probe were released after EU members on Oct. 4 voted to impose tariffs of up to 45 percent on electric vehicles imported from China. Italy, France and the Netherlands voted in favor of the tariffs, while Belgium abstained. China’s commerce ministry said it will use samples collected from Elvi (France) Co. (ELVIR), FrieslandCampina Nederland B.V., FrieslandCampina Belgium N.V. and Italian firm Sterilgarda Alimenti SPA in its investigation. The companies were selected based on export volume, product structure and geographic distribution, the ministry said in a ...