China said it will impose anti-dumping taxes of up to 34.9 percent on brandy imported from the European Union starting from Saturday, adding to tensions between the major trading partners.

Beijing launched an investigation last year into EU brandy, months after the bloc undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies.

It said later it had determined in a preliminary ruling that dumping had occurred and imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports.

The Commerce Ministry said on Friday that China's tariff commission had "decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of relevant brandy originating in the EU from July 5, 2025".

"The investigating authority finally ruled that there was dumping of relevant brandy imported from the EU," it said in a statement.

"The domestic relevant brandy industry was threatened with substantial damages, and there was a causal relationship between the dumping and that threat."

The levies will apply to brandy in containers of less than 200 litres, according to the ministry.

It said the tax rate on French liquor giant Jas Hennessy would be 34.9 percent. Remy Martin will be hit with a levy of 34.3 percent, while Martell will be charged 27.7 percent.

Some companies that had made minimum price commitments, including Pernod Ricard-owned Martell & Co and Remy Cointreu's Remy Martin, will be spared the higher tariff rate unless those commitments were breached.

Monthly cognac exports to China, the world's most valuable market for the spirit, have fallen by as much as 70 percent due to the trade dispute, according to data from the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC), an industry body based in France. (AFP/Reuters)