EU drops punitive tariffs against Chinese telecom firms

Global Business

One of the most divisive technology issues between China and the European Union was resolved on Monday. The two major trade partners officially reached a deal ending a dispute over Chinese exports of telecoms equipment. CCTV America’s Jack Barton reports.

Chinese and European officials reached a tentative agreement in Brussels over the weekend to end the dispute over Chinese telecoms imports into the bloc. On Monday it became official.

The agreement means the EU will drop its pending investigations into whether Huawei and ZTE were undercutting European rival by receiving ultra-cheap financing at home as well as cash incentives from the government.

The import of telecommunication equipment into the bloc is worth about one billion Euros ($1.28 billion) annually, and brings Chinese firms into direct competition with European telecoms giants like Nokia, Siemens Systems and Erickson.

Over the past decade, Huawei secured a quarter of the European telecoms component market. The agreement, combined with last week’s announcement that China Mobile had chosen Nokia as a partner to roll out a new 4G is expected to smooth the way for an investment deal being negotiated between Beijing and Brussels.

With trade flagging, investment is seen as the next area of potential economic growth between China and the European Union, and the telecoms row was seen as the last stumbling bloc to that growth.