China expressed on Wednesday its rejection of the European Union imposing additional customs duties on Chinese electric cars.
A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said: “China does not agree with the European decision, and has filed a complaint under the dispute settlement mechanism in China.” World Trade Organization..”, adding that China will take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
Yesterday, Tuesday, the European Commission adopted a regulation that imposes additional customs duties on electric cars imported from China, considering that it creates unfair competition. This comes after it was reported that an investigation Europe has concluded that the support provided by Beijing to its car manufacturers is harmful to the European car industry.
Different rates
Despite the German refusal, Brussels decided to add to the current fees – amounting to 10% on Chinese electric cars – an additional fee of up to 35%, according to the text of the regulation published online.
Once the decision enters into force, the customs duties will be final and will last for 5 years.
Additional tariffs also apply, at different rates, to cars manufactured in China by foreign groups such as Tesla, which faces an additional 7.8% duty.
As for the Chinese auto giant Geely, the best-selling electric car in the country, it will face an additional fee of 18.8%, while SAIC will bear the highest fee of 35.3%.
“China has repeatedly stressed that the EU anti-monopoly investigation into Chinese electric vehicles has many unreasonable and inconsistent aspects, representing protectionist practices,” the spokesman added.
He continued, “We hope that the European Union will adopt a constructive stance, working with China… to quickly reach a solution acceptable to both sides and avoid escalation of trade frictions.”
Beijing has also opened investigations into European Union subsidies for some dairy and pork products imported from China.
Trade tensions between China and the European Union are not limited to electric cars, as Brussels is also investigating Chinese support for the solar panel industry.
In recent months, Canada and the United States have imposed much higher tariffs of 100% on imports of Chinese electric cars.
