Workers work on an electric vehicle assembly line at Jiangling Motors’ digital car factory on May 17, 2024.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
BEIJING — China hopes to reach an agreement soon on the European Union’s planned tariffs on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, the Commerce Ministry said Thursday.
The European Commission announced in mid-June that if talks with China are unsuccessful, it would begin imposing additional tariffs on imports of Chinese-made EVs starting Thursday, July 4. “Final measures” would take effect four months after that date, according to a press release.
“We hope the European side can work with the Chinese side to make compromises, show sincerity, speed up the consultation process and reach a mutually acceptable solution as soon as possible based on rules and reality,” Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong told reporters in Chinese, according to a translation by CNBC.
He reiterated China’s opposition to the European Union’s anti-subsidy investigation and noted that both sides still have a four-month grace period.
China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis met online on June 22 to discuss the EU’s investigation, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
He said on Thursday the two sides had held multiple rounds of consultations at a technical level, but did not say whether the talks were ongoing or had concluded.
The EU launched an investigation last year into the role of subsidies in China’s electric vehicle production as China’s new energy vehicle industry, including hybrid and battery cars, grows rapidly and automakers such as BYD have begun exporting to Europe and elsewhere.
According to an analysis by the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Chinese government has spent $230.8 billion over a decade developing the electric vehicle industry.
