EU and China in shoe dispute

China has threatened to appeal to the World Trade Organization for arbitration if the European Union follows up on calls from its members for anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese shoe imports, the Financial Times reported. Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng, in Brussels for talks on the issue, said tariffs would hurt 478 European shoe companies and European leather producers that export US$600 million of goods to China each year, as well as 1,257 Chinese shoe exporters. Brussels has to decide whether to recommend anti-dumping tariffs by April 7.