• China restricts government purchases of medical devices from the EU exceeding 45 million yuan ($6.3 million).
• The measures are a response to the EU barring Chinese firms from public tenders for medical devices valued over €60 billion ($70 billion).
• China will also limit imports of medical devices from non-EU countries containing over 50% EU-made components.
• The recent measures come after anti-dumping duties on European brandy were imposed by China.
• Persistent trade tensions exist before a scheduled China-EU leaders' summit later this month.

China's finance ministry announced on Sunday that it is restricting government purchases of medical devices from the European Union (EU) exceeding the value of 45 million yuan (approximately $6.3 million). This move is a direct retaliation against the EU’s recent restrictions on Chinese medical device companies, which barred them from participating in public procurement contracts worth more than €60 billion ($70 billion) annually. The EU cited that Chinese firms were not granted fair access in the Chinese market, leading to these measures, according to Reuters and Channel News Asia.

The escalation in tensions follows the European Commission's announcement last month, intending to ensure reciprocal market access through its International Procurement Instrument, which took effect in 2022. This instrument aims to address perceived unfair treatment of EU firms in non-European markets. According to China’s commerce ministry, such developments prompted a need for “reciprocal restrictive measures” due to the EU's insistence on protectionistic barriers, as outlined by TRT Global and India Times.

In addition to the purchase restrictions, China will enforce limitations on imports of medical devices from non-EU countries that include EU-made components worth more than 50% of the total contract value. These measures take effect immediately and do not apply to existing contracts awarded before the announcement, as confirmed by Los Angeles Times and Anadolu Agency.

This decision by China corresponds with a broader context where both the EU and China have recently imposed tariffs on various goods, including the EU's tariffs on electric vehicles manufactured in China, and China’s anti-dumping duties of up to 34.9% on imported European brandy. These ongoing trade disputes manifest a significant and complex challenge to the international trade relations between the two economic superpowers, as noted in reports by The Jakarta Post and Channel News Asia.