Beijing, April 1:

A 150-member group of Chinese shoemakers has raised a war chest of $350,000 to fight new EU anti-dumping tariffs, a news report stated today. The Chinese government has rejected the duties, imposed on March 22 on shoes from China and Vietnam, as unjustified and a violation of free trade.

The newly formed Chinese trade group rejects accusations by the European Commission, the EU ruling body, that its members are dumping shoes in European markets, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The alliance “stressed that the EC has no grounds to attribute the predicament of some EU companies to the imports of Chinese shoes, and the proposed anti-dumping sanction lacks fairness and legitimacy.”

The EU duties start at four per cent and are to rise to 19.4 per cent over six months. The shoemakers say they will use the fund to research the European market and hire lawyers to fight the new duties.

“We will invite the most authoritative investigation organisation in Europe to make the most concrete and in-depth analysis and to support our pleading,” Wu Zhenchang, president of Chinese shoe exporter Panyu Chuangxin Shoes Group, said.

Wu expressed alarm that the duties could be imposed for up to five years. He said they will drive away China’s customers, shifting business to competitors.