BRUSSELS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a new instrument to protect European Union (EU) member states from allegedly economic coercion by third countries.
"At a time of rising geopolitical tensions, trade is increasingly being weaponized and the EU and its Member States (are) becoming targets of economic intimidation... With this proposal, we are sending a clear message that the EU will stand firm in defending its interests," Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission executive vice-president and commissioner for trade, said while presenting the so-called Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI).
Examples of economic coercion range from applying extra import duties, to discriminatory selective border checks on goods from a given EU country, or state-sponsored boycotts against the goods or investors of that country, according to Dombrovskis.
The proposed new tool would priorities a soft approach relying on communication and negotiations with the countries applying such measures, following a thorough assessment of whether economic coercion is indeed taking place.
Counter measures would be applied only if all other methods to solve the conflict were to fail.
In such cases, the European Commission foresees "a tailor-made and proportional response for each situation from imposing tariffs and restricting imports from the country in question, to restrictions on services or investment," reads the press release by the EU's executive.
The proposal for the Anti-Coercion Instrument will be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
Replying to a question raised by Bloomberg about the potentially "powerful new trade weapon," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday that both China and the EU are important forces in building an open world economy.
"The EU should view China and its development in an objective and rational way, continue to expand market access, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, reduce trade barriers and, in particular, refrain from erecting new barriers," said Zhao.
"The EU should also stop politicizing economic and trade issues and provide an open, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for businesses from around the world," he said.
Zhao stressed that China firmly opposes all forms of coercion and bullying in the world. "We resolutely support the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, and have contributed greatly to (the) world('s) economic development." Enditem
