There was no white smoke, but it was not released either. The division within the EU over tariffs on Chinese electric cars is total and countries have left the ball in the court of the European Commission, responsible for trade issues, to make the final decision. The 27 governments voted this Friday to impose extraordinary taxes on vehicles manufactured in China, a proposal from Brussels, which concludes that the massive subsidies to the industry of this country are collapsing the European market with unfair competition practices. There was no qualified majority for or against the measure, so the final decision remains in the hands of the community government, which strongly defends the surcharges.
Ten countries were in favor of an increase in customs tariffs, five rejected them, but the majority (twelve) abstained. The removal of customs duties required a qualified majority within the EU (at least fifteen member states representing 65% of the population would have had to vote against). There is also no simple majority against, so the final decision depends on the European Commission, which has always been in favor of tariffs to protect the European market.
Spain abstains
Spain abstained in the vote, in line with what Pedro Sánchez said during his trip to China a few weeks ago, from where he changed his position demanding that the European Commission reconsider the tariffs. This position, which the government justified by the need to escape a “trade war”, was defended by the Minister of Economy, Carlos Corpo, in a letter he sent to the economic vice-president of the European Commission , Valdis Dombrovskis, in whom he asked to attempt negotiations with Beijing.
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