TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said on the 17th that it is highly concerned about the European Commission’s draft Public Procurement Law, which includes a ‘Europe First’ clause and requires security-related non-market factors in bid evaluation, excluding or restricting non-compliant third-country firms. Spokesperson He Yadong urged the EU to follow WTO rules, keep markets open and revise the discriminatory provisions, saying Beijing will monitor the legislative process and assess the impact.
China Commerce Ministry Urges EU to Drop ‘Europe First’ Public Procurement Clause
The draft clause matters because public procurement is one of the few large, rules-bound channels still connecting Chinese suppliers to EU demand, and adding security-based bid criteria shifts discretion from price to politics. Exporters of grid, telecom and transport equipment face the sharpest exposure, while EU buyers inherit higher costs and slower tenders. The open question is whether the clause survives the legislative process intact or is narrowed to narrowly defined security sectors.
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