China threatened unspecified countermeasures against the European Union and relevant companies unless Brussels makes major changes to its proposed "buy European" industrial rules and revised cybersecurity rules, Reuters reported on April 29. The EU proposals would favor European-made goods in public procurement and subsidies while tightening restrictions on high-risk foreign technology suppliers, like China's Huawei, and China's Ministry of Commerce called these proposals discriminatory, detrimental to EU-China trade and cooperation and violations of World Trade Organization rules.

With respect to the proposed measures, Brussels is seeking to give member states a legal basis to favor European or otherwise trusted suppliers for public projects and to keep higher-risk foreign technology out of sensitive infrastructure, while avoiding an across-the-board ban that could split EU member states. The timing comes as China is already under broader pressure from EU tariffs, subsidy probes and security restrictions.