[d1sxeyes]

It’s not a “middleman rent seeking”, it’s protectionism. If lower cost production is available elsewhere in the world, there are three options.

1. Stop producing locally. Allow the market to take care of it.

2. Deregulate minimum wages to allow local businesses to price locally produced goods competitively.

3. Impose a tariff on incoming goods to protect local producers.

Which is your preference?

[mantas]

Market has already did the thing. In this case it's protecting local retailers who import in bulk over consumers importing individually.

[d1sxeyes]

For phone cases, maybe, but not for everything under 150 EUR…

On top of that, local retailers have to comply with EU regulations etc. while Chinese imports are notorious for not following safety/recycling standards etc., which unbalances the playing field away from local retailers anyway.