“China may hit the European Union‘s (EU) exports to China in response to the EU‘s decision to impose provisional anti-dumping tariffs (...) Since the EU economy is trapped in the debt crisis and depends a lot on Chinese investments and exports to China, the government, for example, could curb these investments or cancel some trade orders. Or it could take counter-action against France, Italy, Lithuania and Portugal, which supported the EC‘s decision to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese solar panels,“ the China Daily wrote.
The Foreign Ministry has explained officially that Lithuania has supported the European Commission’s (EC) initiative to impose provisional safeguard duties against Chinese photovoltaic modules due to the country’s plans to compete on a respective EU market. Lithuania’s photovoltaic industry output is expected to reach 415 million litas (EUR 120.3m) in 2015, which would twice exceed the current level of Lithuania’s exports to China.