Ledende næstformand i EU-Kommissionen, Margrethe Vestager, har været meget direkte i sin kritik af Kina. Ifølge Vestager har Kina brugt massiv statsstøtte til at knuse den europæiske solcelle-industri. Nu vil EU-Kommissionen indføre told på kinesiske el-biler, som man også mener modtager unfair statsstøtte (Arkivfoto). - Foto: Kenzo Tribouillard/Ritzau Scanpix

The EU will impose tariffs on Chinese electric cars worth several billion euros

From next month, the EU Commission will introduce customs duties of up to 25 per cent. on imported Chinese electric cars.

12. JUN 2024 11.25

Chinese car manufacturers receive so much state aid that it creates unfair competition for European companies. Therefore, the EU Commission will introduce tariffs on Chinese electric cars worth several billion euros. That's what the Financial Times newspaper writes.

The EU Commission will notify car manufacturers on Wednesday that it will temporarily introduce additional duties of up to 25 per cent. on imported Chinese electric cars. It will apply from next month, writes the Financial Times.

The car-producing countries France and Spain are among the proponents of the additional duty. According to the newspaper, it is expected to bring in more than DKK 2 billion. euros annually. This corresponds to around 15 billion. DKK. The money will be included in the EU budget each year. It will be felt because sales of Chinese electric cars are growing in Europe.

China is already the EU's largest trading partner. The populous country exported electric cars worth DKK 10 billion. euro to the EU in 2023. This is a doubling of China's market share in the European market. China now accounts for eight percent. of the sales of electric cars in Europe, according to the independent institute Rhodium Group.

Tariff war may be coming

China, for its part, has warned that it will retaliate. At the same time, according to the Financial Times, Beijing is trying to persuade a majority of EU countries to oppose the new tariffs. They will come on top of the EU's existing customs duties of ten per cent.

Beijing already has a tariff of 15 percent. on European electric cars. Thus, the EU and China could be on the way to a tariff war, which will make cars more expensive for consumers. Germany, Sweden and Hungary have previously announced that they do not approve of the measure for fear of Chinese retaliation.

EU officials tell the Financial Times that Berlin has put pressure on Ursula von der Leyen, who wants another term as Commission president, to drop the investigation into Chinese state aid.

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has warned, according to the newspaper, that "isolation and illegal customs barriers...in the end just make everything more expensive and everyone poorer".

Want to avoid a "solar cell situation"

Ursula von der Leyen has determined, however, that the EU's trade deficit with China is completely unreasonably high. In January, she determined that the EU's trade deficit with China is approaching DKK 400 billion. Euro. That is why the EU Commission has begun to look at unreasonable state aid.

This has happened, among other things, with reference to the fact that Chinese companies have effectively eradicated the solar cell industry in Europe.

Leading Vice-President of the EU Commission, Margrethe Vestager, was unusually direct in her criticism of China in this regard when she spoke at the American University of Princeton in April:

- We saw the playbook of how China came to dominate the solar panel market. First, foreign investment was attracted. Often with requirements for joint ventures.

- Then China acquired the technology. They gave massive government subsidies to their own producers. And they closed much of the Chinese market to foreign companies, said Vestager.

/ritzau/

This article has been automatically translated from danish.