Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
China has appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the European Union’s decision to impose countervailing measures on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), the commerce ministry announced on Monday.
Since October 31, all battery electric vehicles imported from China to Europe have been facing additional tariffs ranging from 7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for the SAIC Group, which includes the MG brand. The tariffs follow an investigation initiated by the European Commission a year ago and add to the 10% standard import duty.
“China firmly opposes the final measures of the EU to impose high countervailing duties on Chinese-made EVs, despite a barrage of objections raised by relevant parties, including the governments of EU member states, the industry, and the public,” a ministry spokesperson said.
Tesla, which operates its highest-output Gigafactory in Shanghai, will be subject to the lowest rate, while SAIC, the Chinese automaker behind the MG brand, faces the highest one.
To protect the growth of its EV sector and support global efforts in green transformation, China decided to lodge an appeal through the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism, according to the spokesperson as initially reported by China’s Xinhua.
The new complaint builds on China’s previous appeal to the WTO, made in response to the EU’s initial anti-subsidy measures for Chinese EVs, the ministry said.
China maintains that the EU’s ruling lacks “factual and legal basis,” violates WTO regulations, and constitutes an “abuse of trade remedy measures” under the guise of countervailing, the spokesperson added.
The ministry also urged the EU to “face up to its own mistakes, immediately correct its illegal practices, and jointly safeguard the stability of the global EV industrial chain and supply chain, as well as the overall China-EU economic and trade cooperation.”
The European Commission said last week it will monitor compliance closely to prevent circumvention and is open to negotiating price commitments with individual exporters in line with EU and WTO rules.
In October, Brussels rejected a Chinese proposal to set a minimum price of €30,000 ($32,900) for all the China-made EVs sold in Europe.
When rejecting the minimum price proposal, Brussels said that the matter extends beyond pricing alone, highlighting the need to address state subsidies that Chinese EV manufacturers allegedly receive, which distort competition within the EU market.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
