European Union countries failed to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs during a closely watched vote that ended with too many abstentions, forcing the European Commission to overcome the political impasse and push its proposal over the finish line, according to Euronews.
The outcome of Friday’s vote was not publicly available, although several diplomats told Euronews how each member state positioned itself:
10 were in favour: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. (45.99% of the EU population)
12 abstained: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Finland. (31.36%)
Five were against: Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. (22.65%)
The high number of abstentions reflects long-standing qualms about how Europe should stand up to China. Although the political consensus says that Beijing’s unfair trade practices merit a forcef
ul, united response, threats of commercial retaliation appear to have dampened the resolve of many capitals as the make-or-break date neared closer.
It was up to the Commission, which has exclusive powers to set the bloc’s commercial policy, to break the gridlock and ensure the duties go through.
Given the Commission’s serious concerns about China’s extensive use of subsidies to promote domestic producers and allow them to sell their EVs at an artificially low price in global markets, the conclusion is far from surprising.
The executive had previously warned that, without taking forceful action, EU carmakers would suffer unsustainable, possibly irrecoverable losses and be pushed out of the lucrative market of net-zero mobility, with painful consequences for 2.5 million direct and 10.3 million indirect jobs across the bloc. The bloc’s industry is already in turmoil due to high energy prices, sluggish consumer demand and fierce global competition.
The extra tariffs are designed to offset the damaging effect
s of the subsidies and close the price gap between Chinese and EU firms. They vary according to the brand and their level of cooperation with the Commission’s investigation:
Tesla: 7.8%
BYD: 17%
Geely: 18.8%
SAIC: 35.3%
Other EV producers in China that cooperated in the investigation but have not been individually sampled: 20.7%
Other EV producers in China that did not cooperate: 35.3%
The duties will likely enter into force on 31 October and last for at least five years.
They will come on top of the existing 10% rate. This means that, in practice, some Chinese carmakers will soon face tariffs of over 45% when they try to bring their goods into the single market.
Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency