Chinese drinkers may pay more for Remy Martin and other European brandies after the government announced on Tuesday provisional tariffs of 30.6% to 39% on those liquors, four days after a majority of European Union countries approved duties on electric vehicles made in China.
The brandy tariffs are provisional and require importers to make a deposit with the Chinese customs agency for the amount of the tariff, starting Friday.
The announcement followed a preliminary finding by China’s Commerce Ministry in late August that European brandy was being dumped in China, threatening “substantial damage” to domestic producers.
China has opened a series of anti-dumping investigations into European brandy, pork and dairy products as a now year-old EU investigation into Chinese EV exports has progressed through various stages.
The brandy probe was the first and targeted mainly French makers of cognac and similar spirits such as Armagnac. France has supported the investigation into Chinese-made EVs, while Germany, whose automakers fear retaliation in the Chinese market, has opposed it.
Earlier this year, China suspended its planned anti-dumping measures on EU brandy, in an apparent goodwill gesture, despite determining that it had been sold in China at below-market prices.
At the time, the commerce ministry said its probe would end before January 5, 2025, but that it could be extended.
China’s commerce ministry previously said it had found that European distillers had been selling brandy in its 1.4 billion-strong consumer market at a dumping margin in the range of 30.6% to 39% and that its domestic industry had been damaged.
In the EU’s decision to impose tariffs on China-made EVs, the bloc set tariff rates on top of the 10% car import duty ranging from 7.8% for Tesla (TSLA) to 35.3% for SAIC and other producers deemed not to have cooperated with its investigation.
The European Commission has said it is willing to continue negotiating an alternative, even after tariffs are imposed.