BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed a law on Tuesday to allow retaliation against countries that put economic pressure on EU countries to change their policies, such as the trade restrictions the bloc says China imposed on Lithuania.
Lawmakers voted 578 for to 24 against to clear the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), which should enter force in the coming weeks.
The proposal is designed to counter a spillover of geopolitical tensions into trade, although it is principally seen as a deterrent.
An EU report on the ACI referred to the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, China and Turkey as having used trade as a political tool.
The most prominent recent case involves Chinese trade practices against Lithuania, after the latter allowed Taiwan to set up a de facto embassy there.
The EU says Beijing imposed blocks on Lithuanian exports and pressured companies to remove Lithuanian content from supply chains when exporting to China.
The EU is challenging China at the World Trade Organization. Beijing has described the accusations as "pure fabrication".
Under the new law, EU governments would vote on whether a third country's economic measures amounted to coercion and on an EU response, based on a European Commission proposal.
The third country could also be asked to compensate for any injury caused.
If dialogue failed, the bloc could impose restrictions, such as higher import tariffs or limited access to EU public tenders, the entire process taking up to a year.
The EU would take action if a "qualified majority" of at least 15 EU countries with 65% of the EU population supported doing so, unlike sanctions for which individual EU governments have veto power.