EU to announce tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

The European Commission will announce tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) this week due to excessive subsidies.

Beijing is expected to respond to the move with harsh rhetoric and possible retaliatory measures.

Less than a month ago, the United States quadrupled its tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles to 100%.

Brussels is expected to impose much lower import tariffs than the United States on Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and Geely, as well as Western manufacturers such as Tesla that export cars from China to Europe.

No support from the automotive industry

Although the move comes at a time when European automakers are being negatively impacted by low-cost electric vehicles from Chinese rivals, the EU auto industry does not actually support tariffs.

But European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly said Europe must act to prevent China from supplying subsidized electric vehicles to the EU market.

In response to the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation, China called for cooperation and lobbied EU countries one by one, but did not specify how it would respond to tariffs.

In January, Beijing launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of mostly French-produced brandy. China also passed a law in April to strengthen its ability to respond if the United States or the European Union imposes tariffs on Chinese exports.