The European Commission is set to impose provisional duties on electric vehicles (EVs) from the Chinese mainland starting July 4. This move raises concerns among various stakeholders, including Chinese authorities and European automakers.
On Wednesday, the commission announced a plan to introduce provisional tariffs ranging from 17.4 to 38.1 percent, in addition to the existing 10 percent vehicle duty. This is part of its preliminary ruling on an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EVs.
\"The imposition of anti-subsidy duties must meet several requirements under WTO rules,\" explained Li Yang, a professor at the China Institute for WTO Studies, University of International Business and Economics. He emphasized that there must be a clear link between subsidies and their adverse effects on domestic industries in importing countries.
\"There must be a clear link between the subsidies and their adverse effects, proving substantial harm to local companies,\" Li continued. \"This ensures anti-subsidy duties are applied fairly and only in genuine cases of harm from subsidized exports.\"
Anti-subsidy investigations can be initiated either by enterprises filing a complaint with evidence, prompting a government investigation, or by the government starting its own inquiry. If procedural requirements are satisfied, anti-subsidy duties may be imposed based on the findings.
\"The EU's anti-subsidy investigation is still under discussion in terms of procedures,\" Li told CGTN. \"The advantage of Chinese EVs lies in their complete industrial chain, not subsidies. The automobile industry, especially for EVs, is a high-tech sector requiring various parts and strict coordination between upstream and downstream industries.\"
China benefits from numerous industrial enterprises in regions like Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and around Shanghai, which help lower the cost of upstream raw materials compared to Europe. \"Also, lower labor costs further reduce production expenses, giving Chinese new energy vehicles a price advantage,\" he added.
In recent years, China's new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly. \"Domestically, we can see that competition within China's new energy vehicle industry is fierce, leading to low prices. The same applies to exports to Europe,\" Li concluded.
Reference(s):
EU's additional duties on Chinese EVs entail broad negative effects
cgtn.com
