The European Trade Commissioner has been advised by his officials that the Asian countries, which together export 215 million pairs of leather shoes to Europe each year, are selling them at a lower price than the cost of the materials, putting the jobs of thousands of European shoe manufacturers at risk.

The decision to introduce a provisional “anti-dumping measure”, expected within a matter of days, would follow intense lobbying by Italy, Spain and Portugal to protect their shoe industries.

But Mr Mandelson is expected to resist calls by some trade groups for tariffs of 50 per cent against the imports. Instead he is understood to be considering a duty of up to 20 per cent on leather shoes from Vietnam and China, to be introduced progressively between April and October, which will last until an agreement can be reached with the two countries.

The Commissioner is expected to press for immediate discussions with Vietnam and China to try to end what he sees as uncompetitive practices.

Sources close to the investigation said that it had revealed “compelling evidence” of state intervention and competitive distortions flowing from state subsidies in the sector.

That appears to have forced Mr Mandelson’s hand on the matter, despite his concerns for European consumers and also for any tariff’s effect on companies, such as Clarks, that have outsourced shoe production to South-East Asia.

The Trade Commissioner, who was forced to impose similar temporary quotas on Chinese textiles last year, has faced warnings from China that it could take the EU to arbitration at the World Trade Organisation if the EU goes ahead with tariffs.

The progressive introduction of the duty is designed to avoid hitting retailers that have goods in transit with unexpected extra costs.

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