L’Europe will have to apply customs duties to products coming from China, and will have to do so as soon as possible. Otherwise the consequences will be catastrophic. It is the government’s position expressed by Adolfo Ursominister of Businesses and Made in Italy. The head of Mimit spoke during the Trento Economics Festival organized by the 24 Ore Group and Trentino Marketing on behalf of the autonomous Province.
Urso calls for tariffs between China and Europe
Urso expressed himself in response to those who asked him if Europe should follow the protectionist path taken by the United States. “Yes. It is inevitable. And she will have to do it quickly too. Otherwise it will be swept away“. And again: with the next European Commission we will need an “assertive industrial policy, based on common resources, which protects European companies”. It will be necessary to move “on the path that the United States is already following against the Chinese titanic challenge”. China, Urso predicts, “will invade the European market, wiping out all competition”. We therefore need a “healthy and significant common industrial policy in Europe, which finances companies through common European resources, to avoid widening the gaps”.
But this policy must not exclusively concern the manufacturing sector relating to large-scale consumer goods: the European tightening must also concern the Defence and those closely related to it, such as steelworks, added the minister. We need “common tools, common resources, to finance Europe’s strategic and industrial autonomy”.
China and state dumping
The crux of the issue concerns in particular the state dumping carried out by China in the electric car sector. In 2023 the European Union launched an investigation. And according to a report from Kiel Institute for the World EconomyBeijing would have disposed of billions of euros state aid to the automotive sector. Only regarding the manufacturer Byd we are talking about 220 million euros in 2020, over 500 million in 2022 and 2.1 billion in 2023.
Not to mention the lower costs related to labor since in China, compared to Europe, i workers rights they are compressed.
American tariffs against China
The US has imposed sharp increases in tariffs on Chinese imports. The most affected sector is that of electric vehicles and gods semiconductors. The American move sparked vibrant protests in Beijing. “We will not allow China to flood our market, making it impossible for American automakers to compete fairly,” US President Joe Biden said after the measure was announced.
For Biden it was not just a commercial move with obvious geopolitical implications. A few weeks earlier, Donald Trump, during a pyrotechnic election rally, had announced that the first initiative of his presidency would be to raise new customs barriers against China. Biden beat Trump to the punch and defused one of his strong points.
The tariff rate on electric vehicles will quadruple to 100% in 2024. The rate on semiconductors will rise from 25 to 50% by 2025. The American goal is to push China to “eliminate its unfair trade practices”, he specified the White House.
The alarm came from the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an association to protect the US industry.
