Brussels edges closer to slapping definitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

The EU executive says it stands ready to reach an alternative solution, compatible with WTO principles, with the Chinese government.

Transcript

00:00The European Union has taken first steps in imposing higher import tariffs on Chinese

00:07electric vehicles.

00:11If approved by EU member states, the draft duty rates would mean that Chinese producers

00:16would be forced into longer-term price hikes.

00:21Discussions over electric vehicles between Brussels and Beijing have intensified in recent

00:26months as concerns that China will retaliate and trigger a trade war loom.

00:32It is for China to propose a solution that is WTO compatible and that addresses the issues

00:42and subsidies, illegal subsidies as we see them, that the European Commission has identified

00:48in its painstaking evidence-based investigation.

00:56The proposed duty rates are between 17% and 36%.

01:03Other companies would be taxed between 21% and 36%.

01:09The American brand Tesla, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, would also be impacted, having

01:15to pay 9% for vehicles they export from Chinese territory.

01:21The Chinese government now has 10 days to respond to the proposed tariffs.

01:27A trade defense investigation was opened after Chinese vehicles flooded the European market.

01:36Subsidies made Chinese cars cheaper and their market share in the European Union has grown

01:41from around 4% in 2002 to 25% at the end of 2023, according to the Commission.

01:51The higher duty rates are intended to protect the European electric vehicle industry, but

01:55the Commission has said it is open to negotiating with China.