The Chinese Automobile Manufacturers Association this Thursday called the European Union’s possible increase in tariffs on imports of electric vehicles from the Asian country “unacceptable” to 38.1% and criticized the investigation by European authorities.
In a statement published on the official Wechat social media account cited by Efe, the association expressed “disappointment” at what it considers “misrepresentation of the investigation results” by the European Commission, while guaranteeing that “China’s auto industry has actively cooperated , providing all documentation requested by the investigative authorities.”
Chinese automakers accuse the European Commission of “biased selection of companies to sample” and “abuse of its investigative powers.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the European Commission said that temporarily imports of electric vehicles from BYD will be taxed at 17.4%, Geely at 20% and SAIC at 38.1%, with brands included in the study sample .
Following the investigation, the Commission provisionally found that “it is in the EU’s interest to address the identified unfair commercial practices by introducing temporary countervailing duties on imports of electric vehicles from China.”
According to Brussels, China’s electric vehicle value chain benefits from unfair subsidies, posing the threat of economic harm to EU manufacturers.
The European Commission launched an investigation into these subsidies last year.
In addition to the three mentioned in the statement, other Chinese electric vehicle makers that cooperated with the investigation but were not included in the sample will be taxed at 21%, while those that did not will be taxed at 38.1%.
Brussels has also contacted the Chinese authorities to discuss these findings and possible solutions to the problem, but if negotiations with the Chinese authorities do not lead to an effective solution, these provisional countervailing duties will be introduced from July 4 through a guarantee, the form of which will be decided by the customs authorities of each state -member.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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