EU to impose tariffs on Chinese EVs

The European Commission has notified car makers that it will apply additional duties of up to 38.1% on imported Chinese electric vehicles from next month.

A statement released today by the European Commission noted that: “As part of its ongoing investigation, the Commission has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.”

The decision follows less than a month after the US quadrupled duties for Chinese EVs to 100%.

The European Commission said it would set tariffs of 17.4% for BYD, 20% for Geely and 38.1% for SAIC over what it said were excessive subsidies.

Rates of 21% would be set for companies deemed to have cooperated with the investigation and 38.1% for those it said had not. The new tariffs will come on top of the existing EU tariff of 10%.

Western producers such as Tesla and BMW that export cars from China to Europe were considered cooperating companies.

The EU provisional duties are set to apply by July 4, with the anti-subsidy investigation set to continue until Nov. 2, when definitive duties, typically for five years, could apply.

The move comes as European automakers are being challenged by an influx of lower-cost EVs from Chinese rivals.