The EU executive says it stands ready to reach an alternative solution, compatible with WTO principles, with the Chinese government.
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00:00The European Union has taken first steps in imposing higher import tariffs on Chinese
00:07electric vehicles.
00:11If approved by EU member states, the draft duty rates would mean that Chinese producers
00:16would be forced into longer-term price hikes.
00:21Discussions over electric vehicles between Brussels and Beijing have intensified in recent
00:26months as concerns that China will retaliate and trigger a trade war loom.
00:32It is for China to propose a solution that is WTO compatible and that addresses the issues
00:42and subsidies, illegal subsidies as we see them, that the European Commission has identified
00:48in its painstaking evidence-based investigation.
00:56The proposed duty rates are between 17% and 36%.
01:03Other companies would be taxed between 21% and 36%.
01:09The American brand Tesla, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, would also be impacted, having
01:15to pay 9% for vehicles they export from Chinese territory.
01:21The Chinese government now has 10 days to respond to the proposed tariffs.
01:27A trade defense investigation was opened after Chinese vehicles flooded the European market.
01:36Subsidies made Chinese cars cheaper and their market share in the European Union has grown
01:41from around 4% in 2002 to 25% at the end of 2023, according to the Commission.
01:51The higher duty rates are intended to protect the European electric vehicle industry, but
01:55the Commission has said it is open to negotiating with China.