Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Beijing unveiled tariffs as high as 42.7% on imports of European Union dairy products on Monday, saying the subsidies Brussels provided to producers in the 27-country bloc were the cause of "substantial damage" to China's dairy industry.
The import taxes of between 21.9% and 42.7%, which come into force Tuesday following a 16-month-long anti-subsidy probe by China's Ministry of Commerce, will affect France's famous Roquefort, other blue, fresh and processsed cheeses as well as whole and unsweetened milk and cream.
"The investigating authority has preliminarily determined that imported dairy products originating from the European Union were subsidized, causing substantial damage to the relevant dairy product industry in China, and that there is a causal relationship between the subsidies and the substantial damage," the ministry said in a statement.
It said that the highest levy would be applied to the products of firms that had failed to cooperate with the investigation with firms that had been cooperative only subject to a rate of 28.6%.
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