The European Commission has said that it would impose extra duties of up to 38.1% on imported Chinese electric cars from July.
China has vowed to protect its automakers.
China has vowed to protect its automakers.
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00:00Jamie, we've heard from senior European Commission officials that say this is a
00:06procedural step as part of an ongoing investigation. This is part of a probe
00:12that was launched back in October and in recent weeks we've heard from European
00:16Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who has accused China of unfair
00:21trade practices dumping cheap and heavily subsidized electric vehicles
00:26onto the European market. That is the refrain from senior EU officials at
00:31least and this comes at a significant time when it comes to the growth of
00:35Chinese EV sales in Europe. According, Jamie, to some analysts around a quarter
00:41of EV sales in Europe this year will be from Chinese manufacturers and analysts
00:47estimate that there's around a 30% difference in prices if you look at
00:51Chinese EVs compared to European EVs. The message from EU officials is that
00:57this is unfair. This is because really across the Chinese supply chain, they
01:01allege, has been heavily subsidized. They say that this has led to a significant
01:06price suppression. EU officials also telling the press that this is, as far
01:13as they see it, China has not complied with the EU as best to its ability.
01:17China's foreign ministry has issued a stark response saying that this is a
01:21simple example of EU protectionism. What do we think happens next? Is this the end
01:28of the story or is there some wriggle room ahead?
01:34It certainly remains to be seen. Now significantly, Jamie, these rules, these
01:39tariffs are only expected to be implemented in the first week of July.
01:44The EU is certainly not speaking with a unified voice on this issue either. There
01:49have been a number of EU states that have expressed real reservations to this
01:55tariff decision. Namely, one of the most prominent voices of dissent is coming
02:00from Germany and Chancellor Olaf Scholz who has really warned about the dangers
02:05of protectionist policies saying that isolation could lead to higher prices
02:10going forward. So there is still some degree of hope that cooperation,
02:15coordination can be found and the message from EU officials is that they
02:19say the door is very much open to find mutually beneficial solutions for both
02:24China and Brussels. So there is a little bit of wiggle room but certainly there
02:29are concerns that Brussels's move could be met with tit-for-tat moves from
02:35Beijing. So here in Brussels we're certainly watching out for what kind of
02:39reaction we might see in response.