France, Italy and potentially Germany are preparing to seek broad EU import quotas as cheap Asian supply intensifies pressure on Europe’s chemical and materials industries.
The European Union could move toward import safeguards covering PET, epoxy resins and glass fibres, potentially affecting important raw materials used across textiles, packaging, composites and industrial manufacturing.
France, Italy and likely Germany are preparing requests for safeguard investigations within weeks, Reuters reported on September 10. The proposals respond to rapidly rising imports—particularly from China—and severe pressure on European chemical producers from high energy costs, weak demand and global overcapacity.
Safeguards would reach beyond China
Unlike conventional anti-dumping duties targeted at particular countries or producers, EU safeguards can establish import quotas and impose tariffs on volumes exceeding those thresholds across all trading partners, including countries with EU free-trade agreements.
That makes the potential measures considerably broader. Final safeguards would require backing from a qualified majority of at least 15 EU member states representing 65% of the bloc’s population. No investigation or restriction has yet been formally confirmed.
The Commission has historically been reluctant to use safeguards, but its position is changing. In July it upgraded its import barometer to identify sustained import surges linked to industrial overcapacity and published guidance on using safeguards where European producers suffer serious injury.
Textile supply chains could feel both effects
The materials under discussion are directly relevant to textiles. PET is the polymer base for polyester fibre, while glass fibres and epoxy systems are widely used in textile-reinforced composites for automotive, wind energy, infrastructure and other technical applications.
Restrictions could therefore offer protection to European polymer, resin and glass-fibre producers, but they could also raise input costs for EU fibre manufacturers, composite processors and downstream textile users dependent on competitively priced imports.
Europe’s broader Chemicals Industry Action Plan already calls for faster trade-defence action; between January 2024 and June 2025, the Commission opened 18 chemical-sector trade investigations, while 46 chemical-related measures were already in force.
The decisive issue will be product scope and quota design. For textile companies, badly calibrated safeguards could protect upstream European capacity while simultaneously weakening the cost competitiveness of downstream manufacturers.
