EU Commission to postpone Chinese EV tariff decision, source says

The European Commission will postpone its decision on Chinese electric vehicle tariffs until after the European Parliament election on June 9th, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The provisional tariffs, which were expected to be announced by June 5th, would be a sticker shock representing billions of dollars in new costs for Chinese electric car makers.

The delay aims to keep the issue out of the election campaign phase, said German magazine Spiegel, which first reported the news. The European Parliament election will take place on June 6-9th.

The source told Reuters that the new deadline was June 10th, the day after election results are released, although they believed the change was related to a last minute technical issue with the document.

A European Commission spokesperson said the date was not confirmed yet.

The investigation, which was officially launched on October 4th, can last up to 13 months. The Commission can impose provisional anti-subsidy duties nine months after the start of the probe.

The Commission has warned three Chinese electric vehicle makers that they have not supplied sufficient information for the anti-subsidy investigation, two people familiar with the case told Reuters earlier this month.

Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis.