Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
The European Union will impose additional tariffs of up to 38.1 percent on electric vehicles imported from China starting from July.
In a statement, the EU said it will hike tariffs to 38.10 percent on automakers who did not cooperate with the investigation that started last year and 21 percent on the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers which have not been “sampled”.
Following this strategy, BYD will be applied a tariff of 17.4 percent while Geely and SAIC group see the tariff increasing to 20 and 38.1 percent, respectively. The manufacturers were already notified by the European Union.
Last month, the US administration announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminum, 50 percent on semiconductors, 100 percent on electric vehicles, and 50 percent on solar panels.
During a visit to Sweden in mid-May, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was asked about the 400 percent increase in tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The Chancellor pointed out that half of the EVs imported from China were produced by Western manufacturers.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also commented saying he considers the hike a bad idea.
“As far as tariffs are concerned, we are in agreement that it is a bad idea to dismantle global trade,” Kristersson said in a press conference.
In a post on the social media platform X, Joe Biden said that “China is determined to dominate these industries” while enhancing that he is “determined to ensure America leads the world in them”.
In the last quarter of last year, electric vehicle sales in the US surged by 40 percent compared to the previous year, reaching nearly 1.2 million vehicles, according to data from Cox Automotive.
Additionally, the total EV market share in the country increased from 5.9 to 7.6 percent compared to the previous year.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
