The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, assured on Wednesday that both the Member States of the European Union (EU) and the European Commission (EC) must “reconsider” their position with regarding tariffs imposed on Chinese electric vehicles.
“We all have to reconsider our decision. We don’t need a trade war, we have to build bridges between the EU and China, and what we are doing is rebuilding them,” Sánchez stressed at a press conference in Kunshan, eastern China, at the end of his official visit to the Asian country.
He also advocated “trying to find a solution, a common ground between China and the EC.” In this way, he insisted that “We are reconsidering our position.”
In this sense, the president described Chinese electric vehicles as “honorable” and “frankly advanced”, and assured that “we, the big European brands, must learn a lot from these technologies and advances produced by Chinese brands.”
In fact, he stressed that one of the objectives of his visit to China was precisely “to attract Chinese investments to Spain so that they can establish themselves as a value chain in our country.”
negotiated solution
Sánchez said he was “convinced” of reaching “among all” a negotiated solution that “contributes to strengthening relations between China and the EU”, and thanked the ““constructive attitude” of the Chinese authorities.
It is worth recalling that last August, the European Commission (EC) adjusted its proposal for customs tariffs on the import of electric vehicles from the Asian giant, a measure that the bloc justified by the fact that the state subsidies received by Chinese manufacturers imply unfair competition for European car manufacturers.
A day later, China’s Ministry of Commerce responded by announcing an anti-subsidy investigation into certain dairy products imported from the European Union (EU). a measure which particularly affects France, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain.
In May, Chinese state media reported possible retaliation against European tariffs, including anti-dumping investigations into European pork, which have already become a reality, and into dairy products.
