Shanghai (China), June 14 (EFECOM).- The Chinese automaker specializing in electric vehicles Nio joined other companies in its sector in protesting the tariffs announced by the European Commission on the import of this type of vehicles from the Asian country, although it assured that it will not abandon the European market.
The company, cited by the economic news portal Yicai, showed its “strong opposition” to tariff increases that “hinder” trade, considering that they are a burden on environmental protection, emissions reduction and sustainable development.
However, Nio assured that it “will not abandon” global markets “despite protectionism”, advancing that it will continue to “serve consumers” in Europe while “exploring” other markets.
The automaker, based in the eastern megalopolis of Shanghai and considered one of Tesla’s great rivals in the Asian country, expressed its hope that the disagreements “will be resolved” before the provisionally scheduled entry into force of the tariffs. for before July 4 and, finally, in November.
In the last few hours, after the announcement of the additional tariffs, affected companies such as Geely or SAIC have shown their opposition to the measure and have demanded that the European Commission “reconsider” its decision.
The rates, which will be added to the 10% that was already applied, are 21% on average, a figure lower than what the media and experts were advancing. BYD and Geely will have slightly lower taxes (17.4% and 20%, respectively) after collaborating with the investigation, while SAIC will be subject to the maximum (38.1%) for not having done so.
The Community Executive based its decision on the preliminary results of the investigation that began last October to find out to what extent the penetration of electric vehicles from the Asian giant in the community market affected European manufacturers.
Following the investigations, it was concluded that the electric vehicle supply chain “benefits, to a large extent, from unfair subsidies in China” that “present a clearly foreseeable and imminent threat to the EU industry.”
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday urged the Community Executive to immediately correct its “erroneous practices,” criticizing Brussels’ decision for its “lack of factual and legal basis.”
In recent weeks, the Chinese state press has advanced possible retaliation by China, such as an increase in taxes on the import of large-displacement vehicles or anti-dumping investigations against dairy or pork from Europe. The latter would especially affect Spain, since it is the main exporter of pork to the Asian country. EFECOM
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