German car concern BMW urges German authorities to vote against increase of EU tariffs on the import of Chinese electric vehicles, the Bloomberg agency reported.
„Additional tariffs hurt companies operating in this country and could provoke a trade dispute in which there will be no winners,” BMW CEO Oliver Zips was quoted as saying. According to him, against this background, the German leadership “must take a clear position” and not support rate increases. The agency, in turn, recalls that EU countries intend on Friday to vote on the final introduction of tariffs of up to 45% on imports of Chinese electric cars. For a decision to be taken, it needs the support of 15 of the 27 countries of the community, representing 65% of its population.
Representatives of the German leadership have made it clear that Berlin intends to abstain from voting. German authorities expect a significant number of EU countries to follow suit during the vote. It is noted that on the issue of the introduction of tariffs on electric vehicles from China, the German leadership is pinning its hopes on the negotiations between Brussels and Beijing.
On September 30, the Euractiv portal reported that the EU and China will continue to negotiate on electric cars even after the vote on the final increase in tariffs on them. It was noted that the draft proposal of the European Commission (EC) on tariffs, sent to the countries of the community, contains in the preamble a provision about the need to continue negotiations with China in order to find alternative options to resolve the trade dispute. According to the portal, the vote was supposed to take place on September 25, but was postponed to allow for further negotiations with China. The EC, in particular, proposed that Chinese manufacturers introduce minimum prices for electric vehicles supplied to the community to offset alleged market distortions from Chinese government subsidies to this industry.
The EC announced the introduction of temporary tariffs on Chinese cars from 4 July, and in September announced a decision to introduce such tariffs permanently from 4 November. The European Commission explained that the duty on BYD electric cars will be 17%, Geely - 19.3%, SAIC - 36.3%, on the products of all other companies that “cooperated with the investigation of the European Commission”, the duty is set at 21.3%, for non-cooperators - 36.3%. The only exception is the American Tesla electric cars manufactured in China, for which the EC reduced the duty almost in half - to 9%.
China has already appealed this decision to the WTO, requesting consultations with the European Union to resolve disputes over the European Commission's “investigation into subsidies for imports of electric battery cars and the subsequent imposition of provisional retaliatory duties on certain [ categories] cars." The request for consultation formally initiates a trade dispute under the WTO. This mechanism allows the parties to negotiate and try to find a solution without resorting to arbitration. If no solution is found within 60 days, the dispute initiator may request arbitration within the WTO.