00:00The new EU tariffs on Chinese EVs have the German auto industry prepared for the worst.
00:07China has already placed tariffs on brandy from the EU, a move which is being challenged
00:12by the European Union at the World Trade Organization.
00:15Beijing is also looking at dairy and pork.
00:19In Germany, the auto industry's concern is that China will reciprocate on its own products.
00:25There's a likely scenario that China will retaliate, and you've heard first the ideas
00:33about how that retaliation could look like.
00:36And again, that would hit German manufacturers disproportionately inside Europe and add fuel
00:43to the fire, right?
00:44It makes the situation even worse.
00:47So we could see closure of plants.
00:49We could see layoffs of workers, and adding to the crisis that we're currently facing.
00:57Volkswagen is already discussing plant closures.
01:00While these are not directly linked to the China tariff issue, they show how the auto
01:05industry is under massive strain right now.
01:08Last year, the export of cars and car parts from Germany to China was worth just over
01:1429 billion dollars.
01:16Some of the major German car manufacturers rely on the China trade for a large proportion
01:21of their turnover.
01:23They will also be directly impacted by the new EU tariffs.
01:28It doesn't fit in.
01:29Full stop.
01:30We are also affected, if you have in mind that we produce a lot of minis and dikes free
01:36in China, we are also affected by the tariffs.
01:39And our point of view is to keep the world open.
01:44And we are against the tariffs.
01:46We can expect now tariffs from the other side, and I think it's completely wrong to have
01:51these tariffs in place.
01:53The EU Commission disagrees, saying that Chinese manufacturers benefited unfairly from subsidies
01:59which allow them to keep prices low.
02:01The Chinese Commerce Ministry responded, saying that they neither accept nor agree with the
02:07findings of the European side.
02:09A lot of attention is now turning to Germany to see how Berlin may try to influence a potential
02:16solution.
02:17The very practical negative consequences appear in Germany.
02:20So Germany will use its weight, whether it succeeds or whether a majority of countries
02:26that openly supported the Commission's position will succeed.
02:31That's too early to predict.
02:34The German side's message is that there simply has to be an alternative to tariffs.
02:39However, with the talks ongoing and the deadline now passed, when that comes and how it will
02:45look is still very much up for grabs.
02:48Peter Oliver, CGTN, Berlin.
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