An aerial view of BYD’s new electric vehicles due to be exported at a dock in Yantai, east China’s Shandong province.
Donk | Future Publishing | Getty Images
China’s government on Wednesday lashed out at the European Union over import tariffs on electric vehicles after the bloc reduced tariffs on several major electric vehicle manufacturers. Tesla.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce told reporters that Beijing still believes that the EU’s investigation into subsidies to China’s electric vehicle industry has reached a “preset conclusion”, adding that the EU is promoting unfair competition.
“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said, according to Google Translate.
On Tuesday, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, Reduce import tariffs Some electric car manufacturers import cars from China to the EU.
It would also impose a 9% tariff on Elon Musk’s electric car maker Tesla, down from the 20.8% previously expected.
The tariffs are on top of the EU’s existing 10% tariff on electric vehicles imported into the region from China.
The European Commission has also reduced tariffs on several Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, including BYD, State Administration for Industry and Commerceand auspicious.
The EU first announced the tariffs in June in response to EU concerns that generous subsidies for China’s electric vehicle industry were distorting competition in Europe.
In response to the move, China’s Ministry of Commerce said the government and China’s electric vehicle industry “provided tens of thousands of pages of legal documents and evidence through various methods such as submitting questionnaires, written opinions, and hearing statements.”
The Ministry of Commerce said the documents “provide a comprehensive and in-depth defense of the EU’s unreasonable and non-compliant practices” and emphasized that EU tariffs “will undermine the stability of the global automotive industry chain supply chain, including the EU.”
The Ministry of Commerce stated that the EU’s final ruling “did not fully incorporate China’s opinions” and was “based on ‘facts’ unilaterally determined by the EU rather than facts recognized by both parties.”
China firmly opposes this and pays close attention to it.
It added that it hoped to resolve any trade disputes with the EU and take practical action to avoid escalating trade frictions.
