After the EU voted to raise duties on Chinese EVs by 45% last week, China’s Chamber of Commerce to the EU slammed the decision, calling the investigation by Brussels into subsidies on Chinese EVs that led to the tariff hike a «politically motivated and unjustified protectionist measure.»
He noted that “France, Germany, all of these countries do the same exact thing they’re accusing China of. So it’s really strange and odd that they would use these accusations against China as a reason to increase tariffs [on EVs].”
⚠️EU SLAPS TARIFFS UP TO 45% ON CHINESE EVs
The European Union has voted to impose tariffs of up to 45% on electric vehicles imported from China.
“The EU and China continue to work hard to explore an alternative solution that would have to be fully WTO-compatible, adequate in… pic.twitter.com/hOpYhInC2C
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However, the move could prompt Chinese companies to rethink their long-term business strategy.
“Instead of focusing on Europe and the US, they’re probably just going to focus more on consumers in China and in Southeast Asia and elsewhere,” the pundit underscored, adding that the Middle East is becoming a bigger player, too.
Pauken II pointed out that the People’s Republic of China has a track-record of “responding very firmly against trade protectionist measures or increasing tariffs.”
“They tend to do the same as how they were treated… So, of course, this is very likely to happen,” he said.
The tariff move, Pauken II added, fits into the current geopolitical conditions where the US and Europe “are turning very strong against China.”
Regarding reports of the EU and China negotiating a possible alternative solution (regulated by WTO rules) to the trade conflict, the analyst wondered:
“Why would the EU announce these tariffs and then suddenly say that we need to do something alternative? It doesn’t make sense. What probably happened is that the EU and Brussels imposed the tariffs and then suddenly a lot of EU companies complained about this. So now they’re trying to find a way to do a walk back. But the only way to do a walk back is by not doing the tariffs, and Brussels won’t do that.”
