Europe braces for Chinese retaliation over EV import tariffs

Beijing’s intentions aren’t yet clear, according to Sander Tordoir, a senior economist at the Centre for European Reform.

“The European Commission followed the World Trade Organization’s rules in designing the countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles,” Tordoir wrote in an email to VOA. “As a result, China in principle has no right to retaliate, but that does not mean Beijing won’t anyway. Berlin’s very visible opposition to the tariffs means Beijing may target its retaliation on exports of, say, French brandy or Spanish pork, not German cars. But one cannot exclude that China will anyway discriminate against EU or German-built cars.”

...Economist Tordoir is less optimistic.

“It is hard to judge how likely negotiations will succeed. By pressing ahead with the EV tariffs in the interim, the EU has shown that it is serious,” he said. “Reportedly under discussion is an idea to set voluntary minimum prices — a kind of surcharge — to offset the market-distorting Chinese subsidies on electric vehicles. But it is not clear how these would be monitored, enforced or how the scheme would be made WTO-compliant, which the EU clearly cares about.”