Key Takeaways:
- The VDA believes that tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles are not the solution to address unfair subsidies.
- China’s subsidies for its electric vehicle industry are a concern for European manufacturers.
- A trade war between Europe and China could have negative consequences for the German automotive industry.
- The European Commission is still investigating the matter and will make a final decision in November.
Osnabrück, August 5 (FinanceFlashNews) – The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has called for the removal of additional import duties on Chinese electric vehicles. VDA President Hildegard Müller argued that while China’s subsidy system poses a challenge, punitive tariffs are not the right way to protect the domestic industry.
“Countermeasures from China are looming, and a spiral of protectionism would likely hit Germany, as an export nation, the hardest,” Müller told the Saturday edition of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. German manufacturers sell roughly one hundred times more cars in China than Chinese brands sell in Germany, she emphasized. Concerns that China will flood the European market with its electric vehicles are exaggerated, she added.
The European Commission (EC) has imposed provisional duties of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China. The decision was justified by unfair subsidies for Chinese manufacturers. The Commission is continuing its investigation into subsidies for Chinese producers and will decide in November whether to propose definitive duties, which are usually imposed for five years. Several European carmakers with plants in China disagree with the duties.
