The march, organised by industry-wide body AEGIS Europe, is set to start at 11.30am in Brussels. Protesters will include workers as well as industry leaders, some of whom are travelling from the UK.
Many are angry at the European Commission granting China Market Economy Status (MES) and a perceived lack of action over cheap Chinese steel being “dumped” into Europe, to the detriment of the European steel industry.
AEGIS spokesperson Milan Nitzschke claimed that EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has been “swamped by new complaints about unfair Chinese practices in recent weeks”.
“While factories are closing daily across Europe, how can the European Commission openly talk of surrendering MES to China?”, he continued.
“Granting China MES is giving it an unlimited license to dump. Today the EU discussion is focused on China’s destructive dumping of steel, solar, ceramics and glass fibre, among others. If the EU surrenders MES to China, we would quickly face unfair trade in many other strategic European industries.”
AEGIS Europe highlighted the European Commission launch of its impact assessment on 9 February, in which it suggested China has failed to demonstrate it is a market economy, and that MES presents a risk to jobs and investment in the EU.
The Economic Policy Institute estimates that up to 3.5 million EU jobs and €228 billion in annual GDP are threatened by premature and unilateral granting of MES.
