TapTechNews July 4th news, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference today. The spokesperson, He Yadong, stated that the Chinese side has noticed that some EU member state governments and major automotive enterprises have repeatedly and explicitly opposed the EU's implementation of anti-subsidy measures against Chinese electric vehicles.
He Yadong said that the Chinese side hopes the EU side will seriously listen to the voices within the alliance, conduct consultations with the Chinese side rationally and pragmatically, and avoid anti-subsidy measures from harming the mutually beneficial cooperation and common development of the China-EU automotive industry.
According to a previous TapTechNews report, the EU's tariff on Chinese electric vehicles will come into effect on July 4, and the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) urged the European Commission to abandon this plan at the 'last minute'.
A reporter from Reuters asked: 'Last week the Ministry of Commerce said that the Chinese and EU working teams are 'pressing ahead with consultations' on imposing an initial tariff on Chinese electric vehicles and hope to find a'solution acceptable to both sides'. Are these consultations still ongoing at present?'
He Yadong said that on June 22, Minister Wang Wentao and Executive Vice President of the European Commission and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis held a video conference. Both sides agreed to immediately launch consultations based on the two pillars of facts and rules to properly handle this case. As of now, many rounds of consultations have been held at the technical level between China and the EU. There is still a 4-month window period until the final ruling. It is hoped that the EU side will work with the Chinese side in the same direction, show sincerity, and speed up the consultation process to quickly reach a solution acceptable to both sides based on facts and rules.
The European Commission released a statement on June 12, proposing to levy a temporary anti-subsidy tax on imported electric vehicles from China starting from July 4. The statement specifically mentioned the tariff increase ratio (currently the EU levies a 10% general import tariff on all imported pure electric vehicles):
17.4% tariff increase for BYD
20% tariff increase for Geely
38.1% tariff increase for SAIC Motor
21% tariff increase for other electric vehicle producers who cooperate in the investigation
38.1% tariff increase for all other electric vehicle producers who do not cooperate in the investigation