The European Union would be ready to introduce duties of up to 25% on electric cars of Chinese origin. The British newspaper writes it Financial Times anticipating measures that should be announced today by the Commission. The Chinese reaction was immediate with the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Lin Jian which states that Beijing will take all measures to “firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests. We urge the EU to respect its commitment to support free trade, to oppose protectionism and work together with China to safeguard overall bilateral economic and trade cooperation,” Lin added.
Brussels’ decision would follow the similar one adopted a few weeks ago by Washington but with different implications. While Chinese electric cars are almost absent from the US market, they have a stronger presence in Europe which is also strengthening. But, above all, the Chinese market, the largest in the worldis crucial for European brands like Mercedes or BMW and all the luxury segments that would suffer a heavy backlash in the event of presumable retaliation. Not by chance Germany has so far opposed the introduction of these measures. Furthermore, Chinese brands such as BYD have already installed production sites within the EU (Hungary) or are preparing to do so. A move which would probably exclude electric cars produced in the EU from any duties.
The decision on the tariff increase, if confirmed, It comes after months of investigations conducted by the Commission services to verify the existence of public subsidies intended for Chinese electric car manufacturers that distort competition. China, for its part, has repeatedly tried in recent days to dissuade the EU to take the measure even by threatening retaliation. Germany, which has important economic and commercial ties with Beijing, has always said it is against increasing duties (a customs tariff of 10% is already applied to imports of electric cars from China). Other EU countries, however, are primarily in favor of the imposition of higher duties France and Spain. The duties would be applied starting from next July and cars from non-Chinese manufacturers, such as Tesla, but built in the Asian country could also be affected.
