Divided EU paves way for tariffs on Chinese electric cars

There has been no white smoke, but it has not been ruled out either. The divide in the EU over tariffs on Chinese electric cars has erupted and countries have left the ball in the court of the European Commission, which is responsible for trade matters, to take the final decision. 27 governments voted this Friday to impose extraordinary taxes on vehicles manufactured in China, a resolution from Brussels this Friday concluding that heavy subsidies to the industry in that country are collapsing the European market with unfair competition practices. There is no qualified majority for or against this measure, so the final decision is in the hands of the Community Government, which strongly defends the surcharge.

Ten countries have positioned themselves in favor of increasing tariffs, five have rejected them, but the majority (twelve) have abstained. Removing the tariffs required a qualified majority in the EU (at least fifteen member states representing 65% of the population would have to vote against it). Nor was there a simple majority against it, so the final decision rests on the European Commission, which has always been in favor of tariffs to protect the EU market.

“The European Commission’s proposal to impose fixed countervailing duties on imports of electric vehicles from China has received the necessary support from EU Member States to adopt the tariffs. “This represents a further step towards the conclusion of the Commission’s anti-subsidy investigation,” the Community government said in a statement.

spain abstains

Spain abstained from the vote, in line with what Pedro Sánchez had said during his visit to China a few weeks earlier, from which he changed his position, calling on the European Commission to reconsider the tariffs. This position, which the government has justified as the need to escape a “trade war”, was defended by Economy Minister Carlos Corpo in a letter sent to Valdis Dombrowski, Economic Vice-President of the European Commission. In which he requested to try to negotiate with Beijing.

The Community government has always said it is ready to negotiate with the Chinese government and that the decision on tariffs can be reversed at any time if an agreement is reached. By accelerating the vote (for which it had until October 30), Brussels wanted to put pressure on China, which has not yet made proposals acceptable to the European side. The statement reiterated, “The EU and China are working hard to find an alternative solution that should be fully compatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO) mandate to address harmful subsidies established by the Commission’s investigation.” be appropriate, monitorable and enforceable.” this Friday.

Sánchez’s words fell like a bucket of cold water in Brussels, where he recognized that the public position of one of the most relevant governments in the EU, combined with the disapproval expressed by German Olaf Scholz, had weakened his negotiating position. Gave. In fact, he accused Sanchez of speaking in such terms because of Spain’s economic interests in the Asian giant when so many factories were at stake.

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