The European Commission would impose additional duties of up to 38.1 per cent on imported Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) from next month, Reuters reported.
Less than a month after Washington quadrupled duties on Chinese EVs to 100 per cent, the EU announced it would impose tariffs of 17.4 per cent on BYD, 20 per cent on Geely and 38.1 per cent on SAIC over excessive subsidies.
Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Commerce stated that it would closely monitor the developments and resolutely take all necessary measures to protect the legal rights of Chinese companies.
The EU’s provisional duties are due to come into force by 4 July, with the subsidies investigation lasting until 2 November. The Commission said it would apply rates of 21% for companies deemed to had co-operated with the investigation and 38.1% for those it said had not.
The EU would add new tariffs to the existing one of 10 per cent. Western manufacturers, such as Tesla and BMW, which export cars from China to Europe, were considered co-operating companies.
Margaritis Schinas, a Commission vice president, stated that Chinese-made cars benefited from unfair levels of subsidies, which threatened EU manufacturers.
On this basis the Commission has reached out to Chinese authorities to discuss these findings and explore possible ways for resolving the issues identified.
Indicative tariffs on Chinese EVs exceed analysts’ expectations of between 10% and 25%. The move comes as European carmakers face an influx of cheaper EVs from Chinese rivals.
However, China rebuked the EU for investigating anti-subsidies. Beijing also called for co-operation and lobbied individual EU countries, but did not fully explain what its response to the tariffs would be.
