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EU states approve tariffs on Chinese electric cars

by AI | 04.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Ten countries, including Italy and France, voted in favor. Five opposed, led by Germany. Twelve abstained, including Spain. Beijing has announced that it strongly opposes the tariffs approved by the EU.

The EU responds to Chinese subsidies by increasing tariffs on electric cars. Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa

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Brussels (ANSA) – EU countries give the go-ahead to the introduction of definitive additional duties of up to 36.3% on Chinese electric cars in response to unfair large subsidies granted by Beijing. According to diplomatic sources, in addition to Italy and France, those who voted in favor of the proposal were Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Poland. Among the opponents, along with Berlin, were Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

A large group of abstentions includes Belgium, Greece, the Czech Republic, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Finland. The definitive duties on Chinese electric cars supported today by the governments are: for Byd at 17% (unchanged from the provisional duty proposal); Geely at 18.8% (figure revised downward from 19.3%); Saic at 35.3% (down from 36.6%). As for Tesla, subjected to an individual assessment, the duty is 7.8%, down from 9%.

Other producers who cooperated with the investigation will be subject to a duty of 20.7% (down from 21.3%), while it will be 35.3% for companies that did not cooperate, down from 36.6%. Overall, adding to the existing 10% duties, the tariffs will therefore reach 45%. The EU countries’ go-ahead “represents a further step forward towards the conclusion of the Commission’s anti-subsidy investigation” on Beijing’s subsidies, writes the European Executive in a note.

Brussels has assured to “continue working hard” with Beijing “to explore an alternative solution that should be fully compatible with the WTO, suitable for addressing the detrimental subsidies identified by the Commission’s investigation, monitorable and enforceable.” The regulation with the definitive conclusions of the investigation must be published in the Official Journal by October 30.

Beijing strongly opposes the duties approved by the Union. Negotiations with the EU on tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles continue “at the level of technical teams,” said the Ministry of Commerce of Beijing, noting that a meeting is scheduled for October 7. “We are opposed to any hypothesis of a ‘trade war’ and we will work together to avoid it,” said the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso. “It is necessary to preserve the industrial and commercial partnership with China with whom we want to continue working in a win-win logic based on the principle of reciprocity also for the purpose of global economic stability,” he added (October 4).

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