The Chinese government is investigating the dumping of pork from the European Union. Report that Chinese media.

According to Beijing, the investigation follows an official invitation from China Animal Husbandry Group, a state-owned company that speaks on behalf of China’s pig industry. According to this group, the amount of pork from the EU that ends up on the Chinese market is enough to constitute dumping.

Chinese trade measures were already expected in response to European measures. The European Commission previously announced a significant increase in import duties on Chinese electric cars.

Europe imposes these duties because, according to Brussels, Chinese state aid to car manufacturers leads to unfair competition. European manufacturers will suffer from this.

“It was expected that China would come up with countermeasures,” says Rem Kortweg, a researcher at the Clingendael Research Institute. “But it is striking that the response has been moderate. China could also have chosen more products. Or, for example, ban European cars from the Chinese market completely. This would really be an escalation to which Europe would have to respond.”

Of course, the Chinese counter-move is disturbing for the meat sector, says Kortweg. “You often see countries choosing agricultural products as a response to a trade dispute. When the US imposed tariffs on imports of European steel a few years ago, we responded with measures on oranges from the US. The reaction affected Spanish black olives.”

Through measures against agricultural products, you can specifically hit a particular country. In this regard too, pork seems a logical choice. “Spain is the largest European exporter of pork to China,” says Kortweg. “It is also a major producer of electric vehicles.”

But Spain is not the only major exporter of pigs in Europe. The Netherlands and Denmark also send hundreds of millions of euros to China. “These countries don’t have a large automobile industry,” says Kortweg. “They seem to be a byproduct of China.”

However, things could still go off without a hitch for Dutch pig farmers. No final steps have been taken yet. Proposed European measures against Chinese cars will not take effect until November. The Chinese counter-move is just an investigation at the moment. Kurtweg: “It’s not at all that we’ve ended up in a blatant trade dispute. Let’s hope they can resolve it diplomatically.”