The EU will impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, which would be added to the current 10% tariffs already applied to the import of battery electric vehicles. This is what emerges from the information provided by the Commission. With the ranges indicated by the community executive for the various producers, this means that the duties could reach up to 48.1%. By 4 July 2024, the Commission will publish a regulation in the Official Journal explaining in detail what it assessed to decide the level of duties. The duties would go into effect the day after publication.
Duties on vehicles from China, the reasons
The EU Commission’s investigation into Chinese electric vehicles has provisionally concluded that they “benefit from unfair subsidies” and are “causing a threat of economic harm to EU producers”. Countervailing duties will be temporarily imposed on imports. The duties on the three Chinese producers included in the sample will be: BYD of 17.4%; Geely: 20%; SAIC 38.1%. Other producers who cooperated in the investigation will be subject to a 21% duty, while it will be 38.1% for those who did not cooperate. A note announces it.
The Chinese reaction
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce at the EU expressed “shock, grave disappointment and profound dissatisfaction” with the provisional countervailing duties announced by the Commission. The fears, we read in a note, are linked to the fact that the move could “intensify commercial frictions between Beijing and Brussels, negatively impacting economic and commercial relations” between the two parties.
The EU “has ignored the facts and the rules of the WTO, the repeated strong Chinese objections, the appeals and the dissuasion of governments and industries of various European states”, explained the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing, deeming the EU conclusions “without of factual and legal basis” that ignore “the objective fact that China’s advantages in electric vehicles derive from open competition”. China urges the EU “to immediately correct its wrong practices”, reserving the right to “resolutely adopt all necessary measures” to protect Chinese companies.
European reactions
Satisfaction was expressed by the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso in his speech at Confcommercio. According to Berlin, however «It is good that the Commission is now offering talks to China. We don’t need any more obstacles to trade”, she added, underlining however that there must be “conditions of fair competition” in the market.
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