There had been talk of the possible introduction of provisional duties on Chinese electric cars and so it will be. The EU Commission has made its decision: electric vehicles made in China are not only benefiting from unfair subsidies, but are also causing a threat of economic damage to European manufacturers. And so green light to duties: The competent body announced that compensatory tariffs will be temporarily imposed on imports.
The EU decision
The duties on the three Chinese producers included in the sample, Ansa reports, will be BYD by 17.4%, Geely by 20% and SAIC by 38.1%. Other producers who cooperated in the investigation will be subject to a 21% duty, while it will be 38.1% for all those who did not cooperate. “The entire value chain of battery electric vehicles benefits heavily from unfair subsidies in China, such that the influx of subsidized Chinese imports at artificially low prices represents a clearly foreseeable and imminent threat of injury to the EU industry.”Europe says.
Tesla exception
As mentioned, these are provisional duties: an important step in any case, given that within four months definitive measures will have to be imposed from their institution. What Ansa points out is interesting: following a reasoned request, one of the producers in China, namely Tesla, can receive an individually calculated duty rate in the definitive phase. “Any other company producing in China not selected in the final sample and wishing to have their particular situation investigated may request an expedited reviewin line with the Basic Anti-Subsidy Regulation, immediately after the imposition of definitive measures (i.e. 13 months after initiation),” still read. The deadline for completing the review is 9 months.
China opposes tariffs on electric cars
The decision to impose provisional duties was taken after the European investigation revealed the concrete risk to 2.5 million direct jobs and for 10.3 million indirectly in the Old Continent precisely as a consequence of the competition with internal producers of the supply which is believed to be subsidized by China. The reaction of the Asian giant was immediate, which through the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing reiterated how the EU has “ignored the facts and the rules of the WTO, the repeated strong Chinese objections, the appeals and dissuasion of governments and industries of various European states”drawing conclusions “without factual and legal basis“ and that they ignore “the objective fact that China’s advantages in electric vehicles derive from open competition.”
Italy satisfied
On the Italian side, however, the decision of the EU Commission was welcomed with satisfaction by the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Ursuswho in his speech at the Confcommercio assembly commented: “I welcome with satisfaction the announcement that the EU Commission has made today of duties on the entry of Chinese electric cars into Europe for protect European production in the full awareness that we also have: the possibility of reaffirming the Italian automotive industry in Italy, one of the driving sectors of the industrial development of our country which we absolutely do not want to give up”.
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