The EU will introduce preliminary temporary import duties on electric cars from China from July 4, the European Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
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“The European Commission today introduced provisional temporary countervailing duties on imports of battery-electric vehicles from China,” the statement said.
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It is reported that contacts with the Chinese authorities to find solutions acceptable to both sides will continue. Later, the European Commission will submit a proposal to the Union countries for a final decision.
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“Provisional countervailing duties are guaranteed… and may be levied in certain circumstances only after a decision has been taken to impose final duties,” the EC added.
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As a European source told reporters in Brussels, “the temporary countervailing duties are calculated based on subsidies received by specific Chinese manufacturers.”
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“Currently, we are not talking about paying duties, but about providing bank guarantees by suppliers. Importing countries will have to accept guarantees and not require the transfer of funds,” he added.
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“The individual duties applicable to the three selected Chinese manufacturers are as follows: BYD: 17.4%; Geely: 19.9%; SAIC: 37.6%,” the European Commission explained. It added that “other electric vehicle manufacturers that cooperated in the investigation but were not included in the sample are subject to a weighted average duty of 20.8%, companies that did not cooperate in the investigation are subject to duties of 37.6%.”
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At the same time, according to a European source, the new duties “will be added to the 10% that has already been in force for many years, since we are talking about duties in connection with subsidies.” This means in practice that import duties on some Chinese electric cars in the EU could be up to 50%.
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In June, the EC reported that it had conducted an investigation into electric vehicles imported into the EU from China and identified violations regarding “unfair” state support, and therefore could introduce import duties as early as July 4. It was also reported that duties could range from 17% to 38%, depending on the specific manufacturer.
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An investigation into government subsidies for electric vehicles in China was launched by the European Commission last year. The EC argued that government subsidies for electric vehicles supplied to the EU from China could harm European industry.
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Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said Beijing is concerned about the EU’s decision to investigate Chinese electric vehicles and that this is an act of trade protectionism. He emphasized that the rapid development of electric vehicles in China is based on innovation in research and development, free competition and a complete industrial system.
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In turn, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, who is also responsible for competition issues, spoke about the European Commission’s concerns that China would allegedly flood the European market with cheaper, thanks to state support, electric vehicles. According to him, a similar situation occurred with solar panels produced in China, which flooded the European market.
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Previously, the European Commission proposed to effectively abandon cars with gasoline and diesel engines in the European Union by 2035 and put on the market exclusively vehicles with zero emissions.
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This provision provides for a transition to electric vehicles, with an exception for vehicles using carbon-neutral synthetic fuels. In parallel, the European Commission proposes to develop infrastructure for electric vehicles, in particular, a network of charging stations. At the same time, the European Union expressed concerns that the local industry would not be able to produce sufficient quantities of batteries due to a lack of resources.
