The European Commission said yesterday it was set to slap anti-dumping tariffs on shoe imports from China and Vietnam for a five-month period beginning in April.
EU trade chief Peter Mandelson will receive a mandate to apply the punitive tariffs today, the commission said.
Initial duties of 4 percent will be imposed on April 7, rising gradually to between 16.8 and 19.4 percent on Chinese and Vietnamese footwear, according to proposals made by Mandelson in February.
Mandelson has said there is "compelling evidence" that Chinese and Vietnamese shoes are being sold at below-cost prices in the EU.
The tariffs will affect 8 percent of shoes sold in the EU. But the issue has split the EU between more liberal northern European countries and Mediterranean member states.
Italy, Spain and Portugal, the bloc's leading producers of shoes, last week again called for stronger measures against imports from China and Vietnam.
Duties are to be raised progressively to "ensure that retailers with goods in transit are not suddenly faced with an unexpected full tariff at the border," according to EU officials.
The commission claims that there is clear proof of serious state intervention in the leather footwear sector in both Asian countries.
In contrast to the trade tussle over textiles with China last year, the EU has ruled out slapping quotas on Chinese shoes.
China's leather shoe exports to the EU increased 320 per cent in the 12 months up to March, last year to 95 million pairs. EU imports from Vietnam grew 700 per cent to 120 million pairs of shoes over the same period, according to EU statistics.
Complaints against cheap Chinese footwear have been pouring in from European manufacturers of shoes who say their sales are suffering because of the increased competition.
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