Chinese manufacturers have proposed to Beijing a provisional tariff on European gasoline vehicles as a “counterbalancing measure” to the tariffs that Brussels plans to impose on Chinese electric cars.
The Chinese vehicle manufacturers have asked import tariffs on large displacement vehicles of the European Union (EU) in retaliation to those who Brussels plans to impose on electric cars of the Asian giant, as reported this Wednesday by the official newspaper ‘Global Times’ and reported by the Efe agency.
In a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, representatives of major automakers Chinese and Europeantogether with sector associations, expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the EU measure, which they consider “protectionist and harmful to free trade”.
Chinese manufacturers proposed to Beijing a provisional tariff on European gasoline vehicles as a “counterbalancing measure”the media stated in a publication on its official platform account. Weibo (similar to xcensored in China), citing people who attended the meeting.
For their part, the European representatives advocated start immediate negotiations between China and Europe to avoid an escalation of trade tensions. Both parties agreed on the need to defend free trade based on rules and avoid protectionism.
The meeting comes after the European Commission (EC) announced last week additional tariffs of 21% on average to the import of electric vehicles from China after concluding a anti-subsidy investigation started in October of last year.
China defended on Tuesday that tariffs imposed by the EC on Chinese electric vehicles will “undermine” the green transformation of the community bloc “as well as the global response to climate change“.
The National Development and Reform Commission (main economic planning body) of the Asian country also added that “trade protectionism is not the way out” and that tariffs “will hamper the healthy long-term development of EU companies”.
Just five days after the EC statement, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced an ‘anti-dumping’ (unfair competition) investigation against certain imports of pork and derivatives from the EU, an anticipated response to the tariffs imposed by Brussels on Chinese electric vehicles.
