The European Union today enacted a new set of trade defence measures targeting imports of prepared animal fodder, including pet food, from China. The action, which took effect immediately, continues a wave of protective measures imposed by the EU over the past week. Today’s update also saw the loading of new zero-duty tariff quotas for certain types of steel line pipe from the European Union and India.
Headline Items
The main development today was the implementation of new trade defence measures against Chinese imports of prepared animal fodder under Chapter 23. Per Regulation R1824/26, a series of new measures, conditions, and validity changes were applied to commodity lines for dog or cat food not put up for retail sale. The changes, which make up the bulk of today's regulatory activity, all took effect today, 30 July 2026.
Separately, today's update included new tariff rate quotas for line pipe used for oil or gas pipelines (HS Chapter 73). The measures, under Regulation R1457/26, establish a 0% duty for imports within the quota from the European Union and India, and were effective as of yesterday, 29 July.
Coming into force
The primary measures taking effect today were the trade defence actions on Chinese pet food, as detailed above. In total, 24 measures became active today, with the majority relating to this single regulation targeting goods in the prepared animal fodder chapter.
What to watch
Today’s action against Chinese pet food marks the third major trade defence move by the EU in less than a week. It follows significant new anti-dumping duties on other Chinese industrial goods over the weekend (fasteners, plastics) and yesterday (chemicals, textiles). The sustained and broad-based nature of these actions signals a concerted effort to protect domestic industries across multiple sectors. Importers should also remain aware of the future duties on ferro-silicon from China and Russia, which, as noted yesterday, are scheduled to take effect on 18 August.