EU, China hold ‘constructive’ talks on EV tariffs
A logo of Chinese electric vehicle maker Leapmotor is seen at its headquarter in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province on May 14, 2024. A joint venture by global car giant Stellantis and Chinese electric vehicle start-up Leapmotor will start shipping cars to Europe in September, executives said on May 14. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT
Brussels, Belgium — The EU’s trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said Thursday he had held “constructive” talks with China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao as Beijing seeks a deal with Brussels to avoid steep tariffs on imported EVs.
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The commission is in charge of trade policy for the 27-country bloc.
The tariffs are currently provisional and will only become definitive for five years after a vote by member states that should take place before the end of October.
China has angrily responded to the EU’s plans, warning it would unleash a trade war. Last month China also filed an appeal with the WTO over the tariffs.
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Beijing has already launched its own investigations into European brandy, some dairy, and pork products imported into China.
Dombrovskis told Wang that the probes were “unwarranted, are based on questionable allegations, and lack sufficient evidence”, the EU’s trade spokesperson Olof Gill said.
“(He) thus called for these investigations to be terminated and informed the Chinese side that the EU will do its utmost to defend the interests of its industries,” Gill added in a statement.
