In official notices published yesterday, the European Commission has provided additional details on the Foreign Subsidies Regulation investigation it is undertaking in relation to a public procurement contract for a Romanian government solar project, based on Chinese subsidies to some of the companies involved.

In a recently issued policy brief, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has examined existing studies of Chinese subsidies in the green energy and other sectors, and concluded that the EU should use measures such as the anti-subsidy investigation on electric vehicles to pressure China to remove or reduce

Today, officials from China's Ministry of Commerce discussed recent EU subsidy investigations against Chinese producers and an EU report on state-induced distortions in China's economy with their EU counterparts.

Today, the European Commission announced two subsidies investigations of companies with ties to China, related to bids on a Romanian government solar project.

Last month, the European Commission announced the first ever in-depth investigation under its new Foreign Subsidies Regulation, targeting CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CRRC Corporation, a Chinese state-owned train manufacturer. In reaction to that investigation, CRRC withdrew its bid for a Bulgarian procurement contract.

China's Ministry of Commerce announced today that China has resorted to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to challenge the U.S. electric vehicle subsidies, in order to "protect the interest of Chinese new energy vehicle companies and the fair competition environment for the global new energy vehicle

In a final rule to be published on March 25, the U.S. Commerce Department says that "when appropriate," it "will investigate and countervail transnational subsidies (i.e., subsidies provided by a government or public entity in one country that benefit producers or exporters in another country)