In the confrontation between China and the European Union (EU), Beijing scored a victory on Wednesday, September 11. At the end of a visit to China, Pedro Sánchez asked his European counterparts and the European Commission to “check your position” on the introduction of surcharges on Chinese electric vehicles. “We don’t need another war, in this case a trade war”explained the President of the Spanish Government.
Until now, Madrid has supported the Commission’s approach, which announced on 12 June that imports of Chinese electric vehicles would now be subject to customs duties ranging, depending on the case, from 27% for BYD to 48% for SAIC, compared with 10% until then. This, it explains, is to compensate for the huge subsidies that manufacturers based in China benefit from (including the American Tesla, the German BMW or the French Renault) and which represent an average of 21% of their turnover.
Today, a quarter of new electric car sales in Europe are Chinese brands, up from 3.9% in 2020. While the EU27 have banned the registration of vehicles with internal combustion engines from 2035, they cannot risk being left behind by China in terms of electricity, which has made it a strategic priority.
The Commission has jurisdiction over trade issues, but the 27 can oppose its decision if a qualified majority of them oppose it. In this case, they must decide before 30 October on the measures which, if adopted, will apply for five years from 1 October.Ahem November.
The unfortunate precedent of solar panels
Since July 4, the European Commission has provisionally raised customs duties on imports of Chinese electric cars. On September 16, the Commission is expected to carry out a review of these taxes, at the end of which, according to information from Reuters of which The world Tesla is said to be the least affected (17.8%), while the SAIC group, which sells cars in Europe under the MG brand, would suffer the highest tax, at 47.6%. The Chinese giant BYD, for its part, would be subject to customs duties of 27%.
This summer, several Chinese brands, including BYD, proposed to Brussels to limit their prices or export volumes. On Thursday 12 September, the European Commission deemed these offers not up to the challenge. “The question is whether they eliminate the effects of subsidies. None of them met these requirements.”explained its spokesman Olof Gill.
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