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on october 4, local time, in the final vote on whether to impose countervailing duties on electric vehicles imported from china, eu member states voted 10 in favor, 5 against, and 12 abstentions, failing to prevent the european commission (ec ) taxation proposal. however, the european commission said on the 4th that it would continue to negotiate with china and explore "alternative solutions." many media pointed out that the large number of abstentions highlighted the uneasiness of member states about provoking a "trade war" with china.

a spokesman for the ministry of commerce responded on the 4th that china firmly opposed the eu's final draft, but also noted the eu's political will to continue to resolve the issue through negotiations. the china-eu technical team will continue negotiations on october 7. china urges the eu to truly demonstrate its political will and return to the right track of resolving trade frictions through consultations. china will also take all measures to firmly safeguard the interests of chinese enterprises.

euronews and bloomberg quoted sources on the 4th as saying that the 10 countries that voted in favor were france, ireland, italy, lithuania, bulgaria, denmark, estonia, latvia, the netherlands and poland, whose populations account for 45.99% of the total eu population.

the 12 countries that abstained are sweden, spain, belgium, the czech republic, greece, croatia, cyprus, luxembourg, austria, portugal, romania and finland, whose population accounts for 31.36% of the total eu population. among them, spain voted in favor in an advisory vote in july. however, after spanish prime minister sanchez visited china this month, he publicly opposed the imposition of tariffs on china.

voting against it were germany, hungary, malta, slovenia and slovakia, which account for 22.65% of the eu's total population. among them, slovenia and germany both abstained from voting in the july vote.

ticket type chartbloomberg chart

according to eu procedures, for the european commission to shelve the decision to impose tariffs, 15 of the 27 member states must vote against it, and they must represent at least 65% of the eu's total population. multiple eu diplomats told the european version of the politico news network that this vote type actually means that the european commission is free to decide the next step.

the european commission issued a statement after the vote on the 4th, saying that the european commission's proposal to impose tariffs on imported electric vehicles from china has received the "necessary support" of eu member states.

but the statement added: "the eu and china will continue to work hard to explore alternative solutions that are fully compliant with world trade organization (who) regulations, adequately address the harmful subsidies identified by the commission's investigation, and are monitorable and enforceable."

according to the statement, the european commission will publish the final implementation regulations for the additional tariffs on october 30 at the latest, which will include the final results of the european commission’s so-called countervailing investigation on chinese electric vehicles, and the relevant regulations will take effect the next day. . this will allow time for negotiations between europe and china.

martin lucas, director of the european commission's trade defense department, said at the end of september that even after the vote was passed and the tariffs were put on the road, the european commission was still willing to continue negotiations with china to reach a potential agreement to avoid the imposition of tariffs. he said at the time that technical negotiations between the eu and china had escalated to almost a daily basis and might last beyond the end of october.

"after the statutory deadline, price commitments or any other solutions may still be accepted." lucas said the chinese automaker has submitted a revised proposal, which has not been accepted so far despite some progress. .

price commitment means that when chinese car companies export to the eu, they actively raise prices, control export quantities, and reduce "harm" to european companies in exchange for the eu canceling tariffs. according to a reuters report on the 2nd, people familiar with the matter revealed that one plan in the negotiations is to calculate the minimum import price based on factors such as the cruising range of electric vehicles, battery performance, and whether they are two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. another option is to commit to investing in the eu during the transition period and set quotas.

after the european commission disclosed the draft final ruling on this case on august 20, the chinese industry proposed a price commitment solution, but was rejected by the european side. the ministry of commerce expressed deep disappointment at that time and mentioned that many eu member states had shown greater interest in price commitment solutions.

last month, minister of commerce wang wentao embarked on a whirlwind visit to europe. on september 19, wang wentao met with european commission executive vice president and trade commissioner dombrovskis at the eu headquarters. according to the ministry of commerce, both parties clearly expressed their political will to resolve their differences through consultation, agreed to continue promoting negotiations on the price commitment agreement, and were fully committed to reaching a mutually acceptable solution through friendly dialogue and consultation.

german finance minister responded, eu-china chamber of commerce: strong dissatisfaction

"although the european commission voted in favor of (imposing) tariffs, (european commission president) von der leyen should not trigger a trade war. we need to solve the problem through negotiations." after the vote results were released, german finance minister lindner on the 4th so warned on social platforms.

hong kong's south china morning post said that german and chinese car companies quickly expressed dissatisfaction with the latest voting results. mercedes-benz group responded quickly by calling the tariffs a "mistake," while volkswagen asked the european commission to reach a negotiated solution with beijing before the tariffs take effect. geely holding group, which owns sweden's volvo cars and britain's lotus cars, also criticized the decision, saying it was "unconstructive and may hinder eu-china economic and trade relations, ultimately harming the interests of european companies and consumers."

hildegard müller, chairman of the german automobile industry association (vda), said on the 4th that the german government’s opposition vote sent the “right signal.” “for the sake of the economy, prosperity and growth, the german government has "we support the interests of the european and german automotive industry and their employees on this issue and voted against today's eu decision".

tanja gönner, director general of the confederation of german industry (bdi), issued a statement stressing that the relevant decision should not end the dialogue between the two sides. the german industry called for continued negotiations to prevent the escalation of trade conflicts. at the same time, european industry's interests in stable economic relations with china must also be balanced.

gerner said that he supports the adoption of trade protection measures when conditions are met to protect the european market from unfair competition, but it must also balance protection and openness to maintain stable economic relations between europe and china. she further reiterated that the two major economies of europe and china should focus on risk management in cooperation to avoid potential geopolitical and economic risks.

according to cctv news, the china chamber of commerce in the european union issued a statement on the 4th, expressing its strong dissatisfaction with the eu’s promotion of trade protectionist measures.

the statement said that the chinese and european negotiating teams are still negotiating intensively to find possible solutions. the chamber of commerce therefore strongly calls on the european side to act prudently, postpone the implementation of tariffs, and commit to properly handling frictions and differences through dialogue and consultation, avoiding the escalation of bilateral trade frictions, and jointly maintain free trade and prosperity in the green and clean fields between china, europe and the world, and take practical actions to promote both sides and the world's efforts to deal with climate change.

the statement said that the chamber of commerce once again emphasized that the eu's countervailing investigation against china's electric vehicles is an unfair protectionist approach driven by politics. the competitive advantage formed by china's electric vehicle industry chain does not come from subsidies, but from the fierce market. overall supply chain advantages developed under competition. the imposition of high countervailing duties will not only affect chinese companies, but will also disrupt the production of electric vehicles in china by european and global companies; imposing high tariffs on electric vehicles originating in china will not enhance the resilience of local industries in europe and other markets. , on the contrary, relevant chinese investment in europe will be lost, which will ultimately weaken the competitiveness of the european market itself and the vitality of the global electric vehicle industry chain.

on september 25, 2024, hefei paihe port, new energy vehicles and containers waiting for shipment vision china

germany calls for "political solution", hungary warns of "economic cold war"

the eu currently imposes a 10% tariff on all chinese electric vehicles. on october 4 last year, von der leyen launched a countervailing investigation into electric vehicles imported from china. the draft final ruling pre-disclosed on august 20 shows that the eu plans to impose tariffs of 17% to 36.3% on imported electric vehicles manufactured by chinese companies, with tesla enjoying an exclusive tax rate of 9%.

after the above-mentioned draft was published, chinese companies and other affected companies were required to submit their evaluations of the new tariffs within 10 days. it is said that the european commission referred to these evaluations and intended to make further adjustments to the tariff rates based on new information provided by the companies. fine tune. among them, the individual tax rate applicable to tesla dropped from 9% to 7.8%, byd's 17% tax rate remained unchanged, geely dropped from 19.3% to 18.8%, and saic group and other "non-cooperative companies" applied the highest tax rate of 35.3%. .

although many foreign media called the final vote a year later a "victory" for von der leyen, reports also pointed out that the high number of abstentions reflected doubts within eu member states. bloomberg said that the large number of abstentions showed that many member states were uneasy about the possibility of provoking a "trade war" with china. euractiv said that many analysts believe that china may soon introduce tariffs on eu brandy, pork and dairy products.

before the vote on the 4th, when talking about tariffs on china, hungarian prime minister orban warned that the current eu economic strategy represents an "economic cold war", and hungary does not want to be squeezed into any group and hopes to maintain trade relations with both sides. . he also said that if the world economy split into two blocs, products made in the eu would become increasingly difficult to sell.

"i am not in favor of countervailing tariffs because they could lead to countermeasures and involve us in a tariff dispute or even a tariff war with china," german deputy chancellor and economy minister robert habeck said last week. he said more the good solution is a "political solution," and "i'm trying to find a political solution that doesn't lead us into a tariff war."

germany’s stance against electric vehicle tariffs has always been relatively clear. bloomberg analysis said that germany is worried that the trade friction between the eu and china may cause further blow to its sluggish economy. over the past two decades, german companies have been expanding business ties with china to sell exports to china's increasingly affluent middle class. last year, nearly one-third of german car companies' sales came from the chinese market.

it is reported that german chancellor scholz has been in contact with other eu leaders recently in an attempt to prevent additional tariffs on china. noah barkin, senior adviser on china affairs at rhodium group and researcher at the german marshall fund, disclosed on the 1st of this month that scholz had put pressure on von der leyen himself and member states in an attempt to prevent tariffs. in june this year, he once threatened to withdraw his support for von der leyen to be re-elected as president of the european commission.

the south china morning post quoted a senior european commission source as saying on the 3rd that the european commission’s trade defense department was “cautious” in trying to show germany that it was open to resolving the issue through negotiations, while at the same time not opening its doors to demands from china. “aggressive” negotiators show weakness.

regarding the fact that representatives of eu member states voted to approve the final draft ruling on the eu electric vehicle countervailing case submitted by the european commission, a spokesman for the ministry of commerce responded on the 4th that china has taken note of relevant reports.

the spokesperson said that china's position on the eu's anti-subsidy case against china's electric vehicles is consistent and clear. china firmly opposes the eu's unfair, non-compliant and unreasonable protectionist practices in this case and firmly opposes the eu's anti-subsidy case against china. china has imposed countervailing duties on electric vehicles in china. china's electric vehicles adhere to market leadership and are based on full competition. through continuous independent innovation, they have increased the world's high-quality supply of green public goods and made important contributions to the global response to climate change. the eu's protectionist practices seriously violate wto rules and interfere with the normal international trade order. they not only hinder china-eu trade and investment cooperation and delay the eu's own green transformation process, but will also affect the global joint efforts to deal with climate change.

the spokesperson pointed out that china firmly opposes the eu's final draft ruling, but also notes the eu's political will to continue to resolve the issue through negotiations. the china-eu technical team will continue negotiations on october 7. china hopes that the european side will clearly realize that imposing additional tariffs will not solve any problems, but will only shake and hinder the confidence and determination of chinese enterprises in investing and cooperating with europe. china urges the eu to truly demonstrate its political will and return to the right track of resolving trade frictions through consultations. china will also take all measures to firmly safeguard the interests of chinese enterprises.