Trade defense tools continue to protect the EU market by promoting a fair business environment for EU industry, with the EU Commission implementing a record number of trade defense procedures.
According to the Commission’s 2024 report on the EU’s trade defense activities, a total of 199 trade defense measures were in place in the EU at the end of last year. The Commission initiated 33 new investigations in 2024, the highest number of new cases in a calendar year since 2006. Of these, an important number have led to the adoption of anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures during 2025.
By the end of 2024, a total of 199 trade defense measures were in place in the EU, thirteen more than the trade defense measures in force at the end of 2023.
Many of the adopted measures and new investigations concerned steel products, and over a third of the new investigations launched concerned the chemical sector.
The most relevant and economically significant new case in 2024 was the countervailing duties on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China.
Most relevant recent trade defense measures
Since 2024, the EU has launched a very high number of investigations which have shown that dumped imports of such products were harming the EU market and have resulted in the adoption of different trade measures aimed at protecting the EU industry and the jobs of thousands of people across the EU, from unfair and injurious trade practices, such us:
- definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in fully recyclable plastic bottles, intended to defend EU companies and more than 1,500 EU jobs and a market value of over €5.5 billion.
- definitive anti-dumping duties on titanium dioxide (TiO2) aimed at alleviating the damage caused to the EU market by imports of titanium dioxide from China which had been dumped on the EU market and were causing damage to the EU industry, which employs almost 5,000 people across the EU,
- definitive anti-dumping measures on imports of mobile access equipment (MAE), used in the construction sector and to lift workers carrying out interventions at height, such as the installation of electrical or telecoms equipment in eight EU countries, where annual sales of MAEs amount to €1 billion,
- extension of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of electric bicycles (e-bikes) for another five years since the corresponding expiry review investigation by the Commission showed that e-bike producers in China continued to benefit from unfair subsidies and that imports into the EU were still being made at dangerously low prices,
- definitive anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports: the measure aims to protect close to 6,000 EU jobs in eighteen Member States,
- extension of anti-dumping measures on imports of monosodium glutamate (MSG) from China, to imports from Malaysia, due to confirmation of circumvention practices in Malaysia to avoid the existing EU measures on Chinese imports.
- investigation on possible dumped imports of tires for passenger cars and light lorries: the tire industry directly employs 75,000 people across fourteen EU Member States and has already adopted anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures against imports of tires for buses and lorries from China,
- definitive anti-dumping duties of 13% - 62% on imports of tinplate: the EU’s tinplate industry for food packaging and aerosol sprays, which directly employs almost 5,000 people in five Member States, was being harmed by these unfair imports from China.
- definitive anti-dumping duties of 131.1% on imports of vanillin: over the past two years, imports from China have increased dramatically, peaking in the third quarter of 2024, with a volume almost three times higher than that of intra-EU trade.
- extension of anti-dumping measures on imports of graphite electrode systems to imports of artificial graphite in blocks or cylinders due to the risk of circumvention.
- definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of lysine (an essential amino acid used in animal feed, in pharmaceuticals and in dietary supplements) ranging from 47.7% to 58.2%.
- definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of multilayered wood flooring (also known as assembled or engineered parquet flooring), mainly used for indoor floors in offices, shops, restaurants, hotels, museums and private residences
- definitive anti-dumping measures on imports of epoxy resins originating in China, Taiwan and Thailand widely used in different industrial areas such as construction, transportation, production of adhesives, paint and coating, as well as wind blade construction.
- definitive anti-dumping measures on imports of decor paper used as a coating in the production of furniture and in the interior design, construction and renovation industries.
During 2025 the EU Commission has showcased its commitment to the rigorous application of EU and WTO rules by launching thirty new investigation procedures to date and correcting or modifying several existing ones.