China Hits EU Pork With Initial Duties Up to 62% After Probe

Pigs at a livestock farm in Ohrenbach, Germany.Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

China slapped preliminary duties on pork imports from the European Union, a move set to disrupt shipments from one of the world’s biggest suppliers and further stoke trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing.

The Asian nation will impose preliminary levies ranging from 15.6% to 62.4% on cargoes of the meat, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website. The government accused European companies of dumping certain pork and pig byproducts and said its domestic industry has “suffered material injury.”