China said it will impose "anti-dumping" taxes of up to 34.9 percent on brandy imported from the European Union starting from Saturday, adding to tensions between the major trading partners.
Beijing launched an investigation last year into EU brandy, months after the bloc undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.
It later said it had determined in a preliminary ruling that dumping had occurred and imposed "temporary anti-dumping measures" on imports of the alcoholic beverage.
And Beijing's commerce ministry said on Friday that China's tariff commission had "decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of relevant brandy originating in the EU from July 5, 2025".
"The investigating authority finally ruled that there was dumping of relevant brandy imported from the EU," the ministry said in a statement.
"The domestic relevant brandy industry was threatened with substantial damages, and there was a causal relationship between the dumping and that threat," it said.
The levies will apply to brandy in containers of less than 200 litres, according to the ministry.
It said the tax rate on French liquor giant Jas Hennessy would be 34.9 percent.
Remy Martin will be hit with 34.3 percent and Martell 27.7 percent.
The levies come as Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi has held fraught meetings with his counterparts during a tour of Europe this week.
And they will likely be high on the agenda when he meets French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday afternoon in Paris.
- Bitter taste -
A trade spat between Beijing and the bloc erupted last summer when the EU moved towards imposing hefty tariffs on EVs imported from China, arguing that Beijing's subsidies were unfairly undercutting European competitors.
Beijing denied that claim and announced what were widely seen as retaliatory probes into imported European pork, brandy and dairy products.
The EU imposed extra import taxes of up to 35 percent on Chinese EV imports last October.
Beijing later lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization, which said in April that it would set up an expert panel to assess the EU's decision.
China is a major market for French cognac, with exports worth 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) per year. The anti-dumping measures are costing the industry 50 million euros per month.
China and the EU are scheduled to hold a summit this month to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
But the festivities come at a time of strained relations, with the trade tensions compounded by Beijing's position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which Brussels says shows tacit support for Moscow.
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