EU Investigating Chinese Wind Turbine Subsidies

The EU is launching an investigation on Chinese government subsidies awarded to suppliers of wind turbines destined for Europe, European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said April 9. She said the probe will focus on the “conditions for the development of wind parks in Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria.

“As you can hear, we're making full use of the tools that we have. But I can't help feeling that this is also playing whack-a-mole. We need more than a case-by-case approach. We need a systematic approach. And we need it before it is too late,” Vestager said during a speech at Princeton University. “We can't afford to see what happened on solar panels, happening again on electric vehicles, wind or essential chips. ”

The announcement comes about six months after the EU launched a separate countervailing duty investigation on electric vehicle batteries from China (see 2403150047). Vestager said the EU’s investigations “are not meant to constrain China's success. They're meant to restore fairness in our economic relations. Everyone is welcome to be successful. Everyone is welcome to trade with Europe. But they have to play by the rules.”