According to Bloomberg, on October 4, EU member states voted to impose import tariffs of up to 45% on Chinese-made electric vehicles, exacerbating a broader trade conflict between China and the EU.
Among them, the EU will impose tariffs of 35.
3 per cent, 18.
8 per cent and 17 per cent on SAIC, Geely and BYD respectively, on top of the existing 10 per cent tariffs. 7.8 per cent on imported cars produced by Tesla in China.
and 20.
7 per cent on other Chinese electric car manufacturers that cooperate with the EU investigation.
It is reported that the tariff will be formally implemented from next month for a period of five years.
According to people familiar with the matter, in the vote, 10 member states (Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland) voted for it, while five member states (Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia) voted against it.
Twelve member States (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden) abstained.
Photo: EU, however, EU and China will continue to negotiate to find an alternative to tariffs.
The two sides are discussing whether an agreement can be reached on a mechanism to control the price and quantity of exports to replace tariffs.
In a press release announcing the final tariff decision, the European Commission said: “the EU and China are still making active efforts to explore an alternative that is fully in line with WTO regulations.
” China’s commerce ministry affirmed the EU’s political will to continue negotiations and said EU tariffs would “shake and hinder” the confidence of Chinese companies to invest in Europe.
Geely Holdings issued a statement criticizing the EU’s latest tariff decision, saying it was “unconstructive and may hinder China-EU economic and trade relations and ultimately harm the interests of European companies and consumers”.
Last year, trade between the EU and China reached 739 billion euros ($815 billion), according to data.
On October 4, a spokesman for Volkswagen also said in a statement that EU tariffs were “the wrong thing to do” and would not improve the competitiveness of the European auto industry.
In the past three years, the share of Chinese-made electric vehicles in the EU market has climbed from about 3 per cent to more than 20 per cent, with local brands accounting for about 8 per cent of the market.
International companies such as Tesla, which exports cars from China to Europe, occupy the rest of the market.
At a time when demand in China’s domestic market slows and profit margins are squeezed, Chinese electric carmakers will have to decide whether to bear EU tariff costs or raise prices to pass on costs.
EU tariffs have prompted some Chinese carmakers to consider setting up factories in Europe because it could help them avoid tariffs.
However, Kevin Lau, an analyst at Daiwa Securities, said the EU tariff would have “less impact” on Chinese carmakers as a whole, as Chinese carmakers account for only a small portion of their total sales in Europe.
He estimates that BYD, Geely Holdings and SAIC accounted for only 1% to 3% of total sales in Europe in the first four months of this year.
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