Brussels formalizes customs duties on electric vehicles imported from China. The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it would start applying additional taxes up to 35.3% on electric car imports of Beijing over the next five years. A measure that aims to thwart the aid that Xi Jinping’s executive grants to companies of the Asian giant, which represents a violation of competition rules and gives companies of the Asian giant the possibility of selling their products at lower prices, in engaging in competitive practices. dumping.
To the rate of 10% that the EU already applied to electric vehicles coming from Beijing, it will finally be necessary to add a maximum tariff of 35.3% that the community bloc will apply to companies which did not collaborate in the investigation. The minimum rate is also reduced, up to 17%. These rates will start to be applied the day after their publication in the official journal of the EU, i.e. no later than Thursday late at midnighta period which depends on the procedure of the Community Executive.
Brussels adopts these tariffs after carrying out a “rigorous” investigation, defended the economic vice-president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis. “We defend a fair market and the European industrial base. At the same time, we remain open to a possible alternative solution, effective in resolving the problems detected and compatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO).”
For practical reasons, conversations between the Community executive and the Chinese executive are continuing in order to find a solution to the disagreement, which implies a commitment on the part of exporters of not market in the EU below certain price levels. A solution that would replace the tariffs themselves and comply with World Trade Organization regulations. The last meeting, at the political level, took place last Friday and took place on the model of recent months: without a common position.
China’s latest warning came this week. He chastised the EU for leading individual negotiations with electric vehicle manufacturers on the prices at which they could market. Beijing has warned that such practices could negatively impact trust between the two sides and disrupt the negotiation process between the two executives.
The community’s spokesperson, Olof Gill, stressed that Brussels had followed the negotiation stages according to WTO rules and had formulated the response to China’s message: “the Commission’s negotiations with the Chamber of Commerce Chinese countries do not exclude negotiations with individual exporters. these individual exporters submitted different commitment offersthe Commission indeed has the duty to analyze them on their own merits, which means that we cannot discriminate between the compromise offers presented by the different parties.
For the moment, Brussels leaves some room for maneuver, importers can request it a refund if they consider that their producer did not benefit from these subsidies or if the aid received turns out to be lower than the fees paid by importers. This request must be duly justified and supported by the respective evidence and will be investigated by the Community Executive.
Brussels’ latest revision reduces to 35.3% the maximum rate that would be applied to Chinese companies that did not collaborate in the investigation, compared to the 37.6% that it had set in July and which, in turn, , represented a reduction from the predicted 38.1%. was initially raised. Regarding companies that have collaborated in the process, the European Commission reduced the rate to 20.7% for these companiesagainst 20.8% in July and 21% at the start. These figures would be in addition to the 10% customs duties already applied to imports of electric vehicles from China. Even if this additional rate would be reduced to 7.8% in the case of Teslaa figure that responds to the amount of subsidies that Elon Musk’s company receives from the Chinese government and which, in the end, results in an amount significantly lower than that of the Asian giant’s companies.
For the three main electric vehicle battery companies studied, the European Commission proposes tariffs of 35.3% for SAIC, 18.8% for Geely and 17% for BYD, compared to 37.6%, 19.9% and 17.9% respectively. 17.4% which were increased in 2017. July. The rates will not have retroactive effect and will also apply to joint ventures between European and Chinese companies.
Community sources assure that, even if the measure comes into force in the coming days, should not be immediately noticeable to consumers. As a community spokesperson argued, imports of electric vehicles from China have increased in recent months, so the actions The current system allows sellers to market these cars without being subject to the tariffs that will be applied in the next five years.
The Asian giant has already described European tariffs as “protectionist” and has already taken the EU measure to the WTO. In response, it opened anti-dumping investigations againstimports of pork, dairy products and brandy of the EU. The latter was finally settled thanks to Beijing’s customs tariffs. For its part, the EU has opened investigations for unfair competition into imports from China of solar panels, wind turbines and health products.
