Beijing
Reuters
—
China announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9% Sunday on imports of POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from the United States, the European Union, Japan and Taiwan.
The Commerce Ministry’s findings conclude a probe launched in May 2024, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports.
POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the ministry has said.
In January, the ministry said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place and implemented preliminary anti-dumping measures in the form of a deposit starting from January 24.
According to Sunday’s announcement, the highest anti-dumping rate of 74.9% was levied on imports from the United States, while European shipments will face a 34.5% duty.
China slapped 35.5% duties on Japanese imports, except for Asahi Kasei Corp, which received a company-specific rate of 24.5%. A general duty of 32.6% was placed on imports from Taiwan, while Formosa Plastics received a 4% tariff and Polyplastics Taiwan 3.8%.
Hopes have risen that the US-China trade war is easing after the two sides said they had agreed to slash reciprocal tariffs in a 90-day truce, a deal that state mouthpiece the Global Times said on Friday should be extended.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group of nations warned of “fundamental challenges” facing the global trading system in a communique on Friday after a meeting in South Korea.
On Monday, Asian shares slipped as a mixed bag of Chinese economic data showed the domestic economy was struggling even as US tariffs began to bite into exports. Growth in China’s industrial output and retail sales slowed in April, as a trade war threatened to dampen momentum in the world’s second-largest economy.
However, the impact of tariffs on China’s economic activity has yet to cause significant pain, as industrial output fared better than economists’ expectations and unemployment eased.
Industrial output in April grew 6.1% from a year earlier, slowing from 7.7% growth in March, official data showed. The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics surpassed expectations for a 5.5% increase in a Reuters poll of 24 analysts.
Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose 5.1% in April, slowing from a 5.9% increase in March. Economists had expected retail sales to grow 5.5%.
Fixed asset investment expanded 4.0% in the first four months of 2025 from the same period a year earlier, compared with expectations for a 4.2% rise. It grew 4.2% in the first quarter.
Property investment fell 10.3% in the first four months of 2025 from a year earlier, following a drop of 9.9% in the first quarter, official data showed. Property sales by floor area shrank 2.8% in January-April from the previous year, after declining 3.0% in the first three months. New construction starts measured by floor area were down 23.8%, versus a 24.4% slump in January-March.
