BEIJING (Reuters) – The European Commission’s decision to press ahead with tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles threatens to undermine decades of cooperation between China and the EU, and endangers climate-change goals, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.
On Friday, the EU said it would push forward with hefty tariffs on China-made EVs, even after the bloc’s largest economy Germany rejected them. The dispute is its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.
State-run Xinhua said the move revealed a “deep-seated protectionist impulse”.
“Instead of fostering co-operation, these tariffs risk sparking a trade conflict that could harm not only China-EU relations but also Europe’s own ambition for a green transition,” it said.
“The path forward is clear: Protectionist tariffs must be abandoned in favor of continued negotiations.”
European imports of Chinese-made EVs have soared in recent years, raising concerns among some domestic EV producers that they could suffer significant losses from a wave of cheap Chinese electric vehicles.
The proposed duties on EVs built in China of up to 45% would cost carmakers billions of extra dollars to bring cars into the bloc and are set to be imposed from next month for five years.
The Commission, which oversees the bloc’s trade policy, has said the tariffs would counter what it sees as unfair Chinese subsidies after a year-long anti-subsidy investigation. It said on Friday, however, that it would continue talks with Beijing.
A possible compromise could be to set minimum sales prices.
China’s Commerce Ministry has expressed strong opposition to the planned tariffs, calling them “unfair, non-compliant and unreasonable.” It has launched a challenge to them at the World Trade Organization.
In what has been seen as retaliatory moves, Beijing this year launched probes into imports of EU brandy, dairy and pork products.
The U.S. imposes a 100% duty on imported Chinese EVs.
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)