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news
Brexit.pngEU anti-dumping rules on cheap Chinese bikes to stay post-Brexit after government U-turn
Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU may be up in the air with just three weeks of the transition period remaining – but there is now clarity on one issue vital to the country’s cycling industry, with the government today performing a U-turn over scrapping anti-dumping measures on bicycles and e-bikes made in China.
Previously, the Department for International Trade (DIT) had indicated that it would do away with the trade defence measures, implemented by the EU in 1993 and extended a number of times since then to currently expire at the end of 2024.
The measures, which impose a 48.5 per cent tariff, are designed to prevent China flooding the EU market with cheap bicycles, forcing local manufacturers out of business and costing jobs, and also raising safety concerns.
The rules also apply to several other countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines Sri Lanka and Tunisia) which Chinese manufacturers have tried to use to circumvent the measures.
But today the Bicycle Association (BA), the UK trade body for the cycling industry and which is neutral on the issue of tariffs given what it terms the wide range of views of its members on the issue, told them that the DIT will now keep the measures in place in the New Year, reversing its previous decision.
The DIT also said that from 1 January, the UK will suspend retaliatory tariffs related to the ongoing Boeing-Airbus dispute, which added an extra 25 per cent duty to bicycle frames, forks and parts originating from the USA.
Peter Eland, the BA’s Technical Manager, commented: “The industry will very much appreciate the certainty we now have on both of these issues.
“In the run-up to the end of the Brexit transition period importers have been in a very difficult position, ordering goods to serve the unprecedented demand in the UK cycle market without full clarity on the tariff rates which will be payable when shipments arrive.
“We are pleased that these two tariff issues are now resolved – and look forward to supporting the industry as we move through the Brexit transition on a host of further issues, not least the arrangements for trading between GB and Northern Ireland.
“I would urge any company not already a member of the BA to join so that we can support them through the changes to come,” he added.
The BA added that it “will continue to engage on behalf of its members on trade issues post-Brexit, providing the earliest possible intelligence and certainty.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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30 comments
This "anti-dumping" rule is protectionism. If foreign manufacturers want to send lots of popular cheap bikes to the UK, that's a good thing.
But special interests can fret "Oh no, riders prefer foreign bikes to the ones we make, the government must stop that" and sure enough the government puts taxes on the foreign bikes but not on the local ones, which punishes the riders too.
I'm glad you put good thing in bold, it really strengthened your argument.....
China's world view and long term strategy are somewhat bigger and more far reaching than flogging bikes on the cheap/at a loss.
Step 1. Cheap bikes.
Step 2. ?
Step 3. World Domination!
It's how they make them so cheap that we might want some protection from.
Hard work.
"The DIT also said that from 1 January, the UK will suspend retaliatory tariffs related to the ongoing Boeing-Airbus dispute, which added an extra 25 per cent duty to bicycle frames, forks and parts originating from the USA."
So are US bikes going to be 25% cheaper?
Well, no, because the reduction is on duty, not the total cost of the bike, but also no because the vast majority of businesses are all about the profit margins.
I didn't realise that businesses no longer competed with each other.
And the advantages of Brexit are . . . .?
Police chiefs warn of up to six months travel disruption after Brexit trainsition period ends
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/police-prepare-for-six-months-of-...
I've asked this question several times on other public fora I post on - the most I ever get back is some rubbish about freedom.
Let's turn the question around.
Can you think of a single disadvantage of EU membership?
Workers' rights?
EU mandated workers' rights are inferior to those mandated by UK law I agree.
Wouldn't be top of my list of disadvantages though.
There are no 'disadvantages' to EU membership. You ask for a 'single disadvantage of EU membership'. The answer is none. There are no disadvantages.
I'll have some of what you're drinking.
There are no disadvantages to the Common Agricultural Policy?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/23/eu-in-state-of-denia...
https://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/issues/nature-food/1058/eu-farming-pl...
There are no disadvantages to the Common Fisheries Policy?
https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-1/fisheries/fisheries-management/a-n...
Every political union is a series of compromises. The EU is no different.
By asserting that the EU is solely advantageous in all aspects to all members you just make yourself appear deluded.
£350 million a week for the NHS - it's like free money.
GBP 350m a week is peanuts compared to amount created by the little elves printing money at the BoE .... and compared to the monetary expansion under COVID its a rounding error. I should add to that ... 'We're doomed.'
You'll have to go to war with 1R4N and its allies, including China, to protect the elves, so, I agree with your addition.
Cut free from their pesky 'rules', we will be able to enter a British e-bike team in the Tour de France. If they keep going on about this level playing field stuff, then we should walk away from it and form our own sporting event with the USA, I'm sure they'll be up for it. I mean, who are the UCI anyway? I didn't vote for them!
Sunlit uplands...
Easiest deal in history, they'll be lining up to sign hundreds of those oven-baked trade agreements...
Protectionist nonsense.
Could you digest the investigation report that led to this decision, and tell me which parts are nonsense?
It fills in some of your ? in Step 2.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2019.225.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2019:225:TOC
It's protectionist by definition.
It's nonsense because we don't have any mass market low end bicycle manufacturers to protect.
All of our bicycle manufacturers already have lower quality, lower priced competition so there is no benefit to them either.
Basic economics shows that tariffs just increase consumer prices. That EU document, to the extent that any actual human can read it, doesn't seem to show anything about the Chinese bicycle industry that isn't also true of every other sector - the Party interferes with business and workers' rights are pretty rubbish.
Should we care? Has the horse bolted, given that we already buy phones, computers, and every other consumer durable from China? As you say, there's precious little mass-market manufacturing here to protect, and lots to gain from cheap bikes. I doubt anyone who really wants a Bowman, or a Bob Jackson, or a Mason, is really going to be swayed. So perhaps the businesses to be protected are the likes of Ribble, Boardman and Dolan, who provide great value in the middle market.
I must say I am torn between cheap shiny stuff on one hand and standing up for workers on the other. I'm just not sure that the latter is any more than a token gesture.
I definitely think that as consumers we should try to make our purchasing decisions with an awareness of the working conditions of the people who made the product.
Anything 'Made in China' will have the Communist party's fingerprints all over it regardless of sector as you rightly said.
I try to buy products from countries with good labour practice laws but as the recent boohoo/Leicester scandal has shown you can get caught out anywhere.
As for Ribble etc I don't think they make any of their frames in the UK so they could potentially benefit from the increased choice of manufacturers for their branded frames.
I agree that the high end and custom guys aren't likely to notice a difference.
The communist party tends to be pretty popular in China. Do the Chinese workers need to be protected against it?
Yes.
It's the most popular legal political party by some margin I agree.
And yes. Ask the Uighurs.
"The Party interferes"...A bit like these tariffs perhaps.