Brussels vs Beijing: The new trade battle begins in Morocco and Turkey

As a wave of cheap Chinese imports has flooded the EU in recent years, Brussels is now facing a new challenge: new import routes passing through Morocco and Turkey, the EU’s neighbouring countries, where Beijing can leverage tariff-free trade agreements with the bloc. By investing heavily in those countries, China is seeking to circumvent the EU’s trade barriers, including the extra duties imposed by the EU on products such as electric vehicles, and channel its industrial overcapacity into the European market. European policymakers are now bracing for a surge in low-cost Chinese goods entering duty-free through these gateway countries, thanks…