How reported Polish Press Agency, a reliable EU source, On October 4, the European Commission confirmed that it had received enough support to impose tariffs on Chinese electric cars. The fixed fee will therefore be introduced for a period of 5 years.
Chinese electric cars with customs duties. The EU has made a decision
Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and Malta. Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Spain abstained from voting on this matter, CroatiaAustria, Romania, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Luxembourg. The rest of the countries supported the idea – including Poland.
Fee tariffs are to range between 7.8 percent. and 35.3 percent depending on the manufacturer. Interestingly, when determining them, the Commission was to take into account which Chinese companies cooperated in the investigation into subsidies. Let us remind you that the standard EU duty on imported cars is an additional 10%.
Dissatisfied representatives of the automotive industry have spoken out
“Today's vote is a terrible signal for the European automotive industry. We now need a quick agreement between the European Commission and China to prevent a trade conflict from which no one will benefit,” he commented for Reuters Agency BMW CEO Oliver Zipse.
“We maintain our position that the planned tariffs are the wrong approach and will not improve the competitiveness of the European automotive industry. We appeal to the European Commission and government China to constructively continue ongoing negotiations to find a political solution,” Volkswagen representatives added.
“We have recently received very positive signals from the Commission, so we hope that it will be able to continue working on individual solutions for the car industry and specifically for Volvo Cars. Sweden believes that the best solution would be if China and the EU have jointly reached an agreement on this problem,” said Benjamin Dousa, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade.