China is not accepting the imposition of tariffs imposed by the European Union on imports of 100% electric vehicles from China and has now filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization.
According to “Automotive News China“, the Beijing government aims to “safeguard the development interests” of the electric vehicle industry, opposing the EU tariffs and criticizing the fees as “trade protectionism”.
The formal complaint from China to the World Trade Organization increases the risk of a “Trade War” between China and the European Union, after the
European Commission imposed definitive countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China, marking another step towards concluding the Commission’s anti-subsidy investigation.
“China believes that the EU’s final decision on anti-subsidy measures lacks factual and legal basis, violates World Trade Organization rules, and constitutes an abuse of trade countervailing measures,” said a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. “We urge the EU to acknowledge its mistakes and immediately correct its illegal practices, and to jointly maintain the stability of the global electric vehicle supply chain and China-EU economic and trade cooperation.”
Meanwhile, the EU and China continue to work on exploring an alternative solution, and Maros Sefcovic, the European Commissioner for Trade, has stated that the EU “is not interested in trade wars”, adding that it is necessary to rebalance the bilateral relationship with Beijing in areas where Europe believes the relations are unfair.
