From now on, electric cars produced in China will be subject to tariffs of up to 45.3 percent when imported into countries within the EU. The EU Commission adopted this on Tuesday, writes Reuters.
The EU already has a customs duty of ten percent. on Chinese electric cars. Following an investigation into Chinese state aid, the EU countries decided earlier in October that up to 35.3 per cent should be added. extra duty on electric cars from Chinese factories. It is this increase that has now been formally adopted, a senior EU official told Reuters.
The new tariffs come into force on Wednesday. The additional customs duties differ from car make to car make. Tesla, which will be hit by the smallest increase, will be charged an additional 7.8 percent. customs, while the Chinese car brand SAIC is hit by an extra 35.3 per cent. customs.
The changes must ensure fair play for European car manufacturers.
A showdown with state aid
In the spring, the EU Commission carried out the investigation into state aid to Chinese car manufacturers. The conclusion of the investigation was that China gave unreasonable state aid to its own car manufacturers.
Thereby, according to the EU Commission, China created a distortion of the market in the EU. In order to protect the European car manufacturers, the EU Commission therefore planned to introduce additional duties on Chinese electric cars. The United States and Canada have done the same in the past. In both countries, 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese electric cars.
Germany is among several EU countries that have called for an alternative to the increased customs duty on Chinese-produced electric cars. The country is the EU's largest economy and largest car manufacturer.
Germany's Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has previously expressed that his government fears that increased European tariffs on Chinese electric cars will be met with increased Chinese tariffs on German cars.
No higher prices on the way
According to Dansk Industri (DI), Danish consumers need not fear generally rising prices on the electric car market as a result of the new customs duties. This is what Thomas Møller Sørensen, branch director of DI Bilbranchen, says in a written comment to Ritzau.
- The European market is so crucial for the Chinese car manufacturers that we expect them to either pay the customs duty out of their own profit or alternatively place production outside China. The competition on the market for electric cars is so intense that price increases for many car brands will effectively mean that they are out of the market, he says.
The EU Commission estimates, according to Reuters, that Chinese electric car manufacturers sit at eight per cent. of the electric car market in the EU. In 2019, Chinese-produced electric cars accounted for less than one percent of electric cars sold in the EU.
According to the commission, the prices of electric cars from factories in China are typically 20 per cent. lower than the price of electric cars produced within the EU. The EU Commission has had a series of technical negotiations with China in an attempt to find an alternative to increased tariffs. But so far it has not been successful.
According to the commission, negotiations will continue after the new tariffs have entered into force, writes Reuters.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
