Officials are studying a range of actions including the possibility of introducing customs duties on items that fall below the €150 (US$167) value threshold at which import taxes are applied.

The European Commission has also considered punitive action against the transport subsidies received by Chinese operators, which allow goods to be sent at a low cost by air cargo from China to quickly meet booming consumer demand, according to people familiar with the internal thinking.

Over the first eight months of this year, these low-value exports – categorised as “articles of low value in simplified customs procedures” – were worth US$8.51 billion – a 61 per cent increase over the same period just two years earlier, according to calculations based on Chinese customs statistics.