Europe’s Trade Agenda

The case of anti-dumping

Retail and wholesale are not simply importers. They are links between EU trade policy and European consumers and industry and a key downstream sector. The European retail and wholesale sector is important as it provides 26 million jobs, accounting for 1 in 7 jobs in Europe. While anti-dumping instruments are designed to address unfair trade practices, their effects extend well beyond the producers and importers formally involved in investigations. Retailers and wholesalers ultimately absorb a significant share of the resulting impacts through higher sourcing costs, supply chain disruption, reduced sourcing flexibility and, ultimately, effects on consumer prices and purchasing power.

Key messages

1. Recognition of retail and wholesale as an affected sector: Retailers and wholesalers are increasingly registering as interested parties and contributing evidence in individual investigations – a clear signal of how directly the sector is affected. However, there is a need to create space for the structured involvement of retail and wholesale organisations in ongoing discussions on trade defence policy, economic security and trade relations.
2. Consumer affordability and the cost of anti-dumping measures: Anti-dumping duties on everyday consumer goods translate, directly or indirectly, into higher prices at the point of sale. Such higher prices affect the affordability of a wide range of consumer goods on the EU market. It also entails costs for EU exporters thereby lowering competitiveness. The Union interest test needs reform and should give explicit and measurable weight to consumer prices and purchasing power, alongside the interests of Union industry. It should demonstrate that their overall economic benefits outweigh the costs for users, retailers, processors, exporters and consumers.
3. Sourcing realities and exposure to China - what the data shows: Eurostat import statistics, broken down by CN code, demonstrate that in the general merchandise category there are no clear alternative sourcing markets to China. More than 70% of total EU imports by retailers and wholesalers in these categories originates in China, with alternative sourcing options remaining limited or entailing significant cost and quality trade-offs. Where EU production cannot meet demand, global sourcing remains essential to ensure continuity for consumers and businesses.
4. Cumulative impact of multiple measures: While each investigation may appear justified on a case-by-case basis, the same retail and wholesale value chains are being hit simultaneously by multiple measures. There is currently no systematic assessment of this cumulative burden on downstream sectors and this needs to be addressed. Recent and ongoing cases illustrate the scale of this cumulative burden: duties of up to 70.9% on candles (AD726), up to 99.7% on certain glass fibre fabrics, and up to 90.1% on polyamide yarn, alongside the anti-dumping investigation into alkaline batteries opened in July 2026 (AD756) – each affecting everyday consumer goods with limited or no alternative sourcing. Retailers and wholesalers sourcing across several of these categories face the combined effect of multiple, independently-assessed measures, none of which is required to account for the others.
5. European competitiveness: Trade defence measures intended to strengthen a specific upstream group of producers may ultimately weaken the competitiveness of European retail and wholesale if sourcing costs rise significantly compared to global competitors. Operators sourcing for other major markets are not subject to equivalent duty levels, creating a structural cost disadvantage for European retailers and wholesalers and for Europe as a consumer market and retail destination. Before introducing trade defence measures, policymakers should also consider whether stronger enforcement of existing EU rules on products originating from third countries could provide a more proportionate and effective response. Trade defence policy should distinguish between cases where such measures are necessary and those where better enforcement would be sufficient.