China Criticises EU Industrial Acceleration Act, Threatens Countermeasures Over WTO Concerns

China’s Ministry of Commerce has criticised the EU's Industrial Acceleration Act for allegedly imposing numerous restrictive requirements on foreign investment. The European Commission launched its Industrial Accelerator Act in March, aiming to increase demand for low-carbon, European-made technologies and products through a slate of measures. A spokesperson from China's Ministry of Commerce said that Beijing gave the EU executive its formal feedback on Friday, but publicly said on Monday that the pitch imposes numerous restrictive requirements on foreign investment and may violate World Trade Organisation (WTO) principles. The spokesperson said the preferential "EU origin" tag in public procurement and public support policies constitutes investment barriers and institutional discrimination. China is ready engage in dialogue with the EU to mitigate the policy's impact on the Asian giant, the spokesperson added, but if this fails, countermeasures to "firmly safeguard" Beijing's business interests could follow. European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said the bloc's reply to Beijing's comments is "simple". "Our proposals are carefully calibrated to achieve certain economic wider goals for our citizens. We engage with our global partners to the extent possible. We are happy to engage and hear their views," he said. The EU's Industrial Acceleration Act targets three strategic sectors: clean technologies, car manufacturers, and energy-intensive industries such as aluminium, steel and cement. The proposal includes thresholds such as a 70% EU-content requirement for electric vehicles, 25% for aluminium and 25% for cement. "It (The Industrial Accelerator Act) will create jobs by directing taxpayers' money to European production, decreasing our dependencies and enhancing our economic security and sovereignty," the European Commissioner for Industry Stéphane Séjourné said at the launch. The European Commission proposed the Act after more than 200,000 European jobs were wiped-out in energy-intensive industries and the automotive sector since 2024, with 600,000 losses projected this decade in car-making alone. The Commission's proposal to curb the problem must now be approved by the EU's co-legislators, the European Parliament and the European Council, which represents member states.