China's Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yongqian Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

The EU is urged to address mutual concerns through dialogue and consultation regarding its plan to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imported biodiesel from China, rather than hastily resorting to protectionism, Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) spokesperson He Yongqian said at a routine press conference on Thursday.

Chinese experts said that such duties will undermine the EU's green transformation, and they will serve as another bad example of the EU wielding protectionist tools against China for politically motivated purposes.

The remarks were made as the European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, has proposed setting provisional tariffs of between 12.8 and 36.4 percent, according to Reuters, citing a document. They are due to be imposed in mid-August, the report said.

For biodiesel, the proposed duties are 12.8 percent for EcoCeres Group products, 36.4 percent for Jiaao Group (including Zhejiang Jiaao Enproenergy Co) and 25.4 percent for Zhuoyue Group, including Longyan Zhuoyue New Energy Co, the report said.

This protectionist move came as China and the EU are in intense talks over the bloc's decision to impose additional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles (EVs), an action that has sparked strong opposition even within EU member countries for its foreseeable impacts on the region's green transformation and trade relations with China, their major trading partner.

China expressed deep concern over the EU's protectionist actions in the biodiesel industry, the MOFCOM spokesperson said on Thursday.

The EU is the world's largest consumer of biodiesel, and it imports biodiesel from China to meet its substantial market demand, accelerating its green transformation as well as its energy conservation and emissions reduction goals, according to He.

China has repeatedly emphasized that such measures of the EC will only raise costs for related products, harm the interests of the bloc's industries and consumers, and disrupt the region's green transformation process, the MOFCOM spokesperson noted, warning that such moves will also affect overall economic and trade cooperation between China and the EU.

China consistently advocates the reasonable and prudent use of trade remedy measures and urges the EU not to hastily resort to trade protectionism, but to address mutual concerns through dialogue and consultation with China, He said.

The EU is one of the world's largest consumers of biodiesel as the region strives to meet its carbon reduction goal.

Between 2015 and 2021, biodiesel consumption in the EU increased by some 2.3 million metric tons, according to data from Statista, an online database.

The largest consumers of biofuel in the EU are France, Germany, and Italy, Statista said.

These protectionist measures will undoubtedly affect the EU's green transition, just like imposing tariffs on EVs from China, although the latter will have a much greater impact on the bloc's green development, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

What is behind this move is clearly the growing tendency of protectionism, which will backfire on the EU's green development as well as its energy transformation, Lin said, urging the EU to take a fair stance in this field.