Scholz: We need technology, not tariffs

CGTN Europe

Speaking at a battery plant launch in Germany on Monday, German Chancellor Scholz reiterated his opposition to EU tariffs on Chinese electric cars. He praised China’s advancements in EV technology and warned that trade barriers would harm Germany’s auto industry. Scholz emphasized the need for innovation and expanded EV infrastructure, not protectionism, to keep Germany competitive.

Transcript

00:00Protectionism and trade wars are harming us.

00:03Because as an export country, we live from open trade with the whole world.

00:08And that's why we don't need the best customs, but the best cars and the most modern technologies.

00:15Some say, China can do this much better with electric motors than we do.

00:19But German companies don't have to be afraid of this competition.

00:24Of course we need a level playing field, fair competition conditions.

00:29That's what we're talking about, that's what the EU is also talking about, quite rightly with Beijing.

00:34But the vast majority of the cars produced in China,

00:38that come here to Germany, come from German and international markets.

00:43That's why I'm, I've already said it publicly and I repeat it here, against customs that harm us.

00:49The European Union should prefer to use such instruments where unfair and WTO-negative

00:55dumping and subsidies are disadvantageous to our producers.

Category

Transcript

Recommended