The US Commerce Depart­ment has said such imports were being sold in the US at less than fair value, in a practice known as dumping.

It is particularly unhappy about state aid to Chinese paper manufacturers, which it deems to distort the market and, according to reports, are worth £12m ($24m) a year.

UK merchants are waiting to see if there will be an impact on the UK market. Some have suggested the sanctions could push Chinese paper manufacturers to try to sell more to Europe.

Premier Paper chief executive Martyn Eustace said: “It may encourage Chinese manufacturers to target Europe a bit more, but transport costs to Europe are high and Europe has not, so far, been a high priority market.

PaperCo group managing director Alistair Gough said: “I have no doubt Far East supplies will continue to come to the EU, but I do not, at this stage, believe it will have a dramatic impact on where major distributors source their core supplies from.

“However, the structure of the European paper industry will need to continue to restructure to ensure it is in balance with EU demand.”

Another industry insider said the EU could make the same conclusion about unfair competition.

The US Commerce Depart­ment will decide later this month whether to make the tariffs official.