The investigation began on Monday, according to a statement from the Chinese ministry of commerce.

China is the EU’s biggest overseas market for pork, although export volumes have fallen off in recent years due to domestic oversupply and low prices. Still, the trade was worth US$1.83 billion last year, with farmers in Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands the biggest beneficiaries.

The probe will be viewed as Beijing’s counter to similar investigations being conducted by the EU, which is looking at Chinese subsidies across a range of industries and will impose tariffs on electric car imports from July. In January, China announced an anti-dumping investigation into European brandy.

Agriculture is often fertile ground for trade conflicts. China imposed levies on US soybean imports at the height of the trade war with the Trump administration. Its recent dispute with Canberra involved trade measures against Australian barley, beef, cotton, and lobsters, as well as wine.