BRUSSELS—The European Union unveiled plans on June 17 to fight unfair competition from foreign companies backed by powerful non-EU trade rivals amid the Chinese regime’s growing influence in the bloc’s single market.
With its project, the EU’s executive arm intends to tackle what it calls the “distortive effects” of foreign subsidies facilitating takeovers of European businesses by companies that receive large amounts of public aid from non-EU governments. Competing with European businesses that labor under strict state aid rules, these companies can take advantage of the unfair support to invest massively and win public procurement tenders.
