The European Union on Friday banned Chinese firms from procurement of government medical equipment over five million euros ($ 5.8 million) in vengeance for the range of Beijing locations at its own market.The 27-Nation Block and the trade tension between China include a wide range of healthcare supply from surgical masks to X-ray machines, which represents a 150 billion euro market in the European Union.Block trade commissioner Maros Sefkovic said, “With these measures, our aim is to level the playground for European Union businesses.” “We are committed to interact with China to solve these issues.”The European Commission said in a statement that the move was “in response to prolonged exclusion of medical equipment created by the European Union from the contracts of the Chinese government by China.”Brussels stated that just 90 percent of public procurement contracts for medical equipment in China were subject to exclusion and discriminatory measures “against the firms of the European Union”.In addition to leaving Chinese firms from major state purchases, “inputs for successful dialects from China” will also be limited to 50 percent, it has also been said.Over the last three years, Brussels and Beijing have come into conflict in many economic fields, including electric cars, rail industry, solar panels, and wind turbines.Decision on medical equipment comes at the time of increased trade tension with President Donald Trump’s United States, which has attached customs overload on imports from all over the world including Europe.The European Union has decided to take a difficult stance on trade in recent years, adopting a huge arsenal of law to better protect its businesses against unfair competition.In April 2024, the Commission opened an inquiry into the Chinese public contracts for medical equipment, to achieve better access to the first foreign state shopping under a new mechanism introduced by the European Union in 2022. On the other hand, China accused Europe of protectionism. After one year of conversation, the Commission, which manages the trade policy on behalf of 27 member states, said it had failed to make any progress with China.Brussels said, “The remedy encourages China to prevent its discrimination with European Union firms and European Union medical equipment and treat the European Union companies with the same openness, as the European Union does with Chinese companies and products.”
