Sánchez urges the EU to 'reconsider' tariffs on Chinese electric cars, exposing cracks

"We don't need another war, in this case, a trade war. We need to build bridges between the EU and China," Pedro Sánchez said in Shanghai.

Transcript

00:00Spain has broken ranks with the European Commission by warning against plans to slap hefty tariffs

00:07on Chinese imported electric vehicles.

00:10Speaking during a four-day visit to China, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez

00:15said that the EU needs to reconsider the tariffs to avoid an all-out trade war with Beijing.

00:21I have to be bland and frank, I think that we need to reconsider all of us, not only

00:28member states but also the Commission, our position towards this movement.

00:34As I said before, we don't need another war, in this case a trade war.

00:39I think that we need to bring breaches between the European Union and China and from Spain

00:45what we will do is to be constructive and to try to find a solution, a compromise between

00:53China and the European Commission.

00:56The European Union introduced tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles in July after

01:01a nine-month probe found Beijing was pumping generous subsidies across the supply chain,

01:07putting European companies at a competitive disadvantage.

01:11Spain backed the move in a consultative vote in July but seems to have u-turned on its

01:16position as it warns against escalating the trade conflict.

01:20China has already retaliated against the EU tariffs with an anti-subsidy probe into pork

01:25products, a move which could hurt industry in Spain which accounts for some 25% of China's

01:31pork imports.

01:32We have expressed our surprise to the Chinese authorities over pork because potential sanctions

01:41to a sector that has nothing to do with the automotive sector have been involved in this

01:50trade negotiation.

01:51Member states are expected to vote definitively on the tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

01:56in October.

01:57A majority of member states would need to oppose the move in order to block the measures.

02:03The European Commission has said it stands ready to reach an alternative solution compatible

02:08with WTO principles with the Chinese government.