BRUSSELS: The European Union on Thursday slapped extra provisional duties of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car imports because of Beijing’s “unfair” support, a move that risks escalating tensions with Beijing.
A European Commission probe launched last year concluded that state subsidies for Chinese EV manufacturers were unfairly undercutting European rivals — which Brussels wants to shield as they make the transition from thermal to electric power.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU slammed the tariffs, coming on top of current import duties of 10 percent, as “politically-motivated” and “protectionist”, while voicing hope the dispute could yet be resolved through dialogue.
Europeans are split on the move, with Germany and its homegrown auto champions, who do significant trade with China, fearing it will do more harm than good if it leads to a clampdown on EU exports as Beijing has already threatened.
German auto giant Volkswagen slammed the move as “detrimental” while the head of BMW said the tariff battle “leads to a dead end”. France and Italy have pushed for tariffs on Chinese EVs — whose EU market share has skyrocketed — but Sweden like Germany has expressed reservations, while Hungary is outright opposed.
The provisional tariffs kick in from Friday, with definitive duties to take effect in November for a five-year period, pending a vote by the EU’s 27 states.
“Our investigation... concluded that the battery electric vehicles produced in China benefit from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to the EU’s own electric car makers,” the EU’s trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said.
In response, the commission imposed provisional duties on major Chinese manufacturers including 17.4 percent for market major BYD, 19.9 percent for Geely and 37.6 percent for SAIC.
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