Chinese Car Makers Wants Import Taxes On Cars From Europe

The European Commission wants to introduce high import duties on electric cars from China starting July 4. The European Commission believes that China practices unfair competition by subsidizing its own manufacturers. If nothing changes, there will be stiff import duties of a minimum of 17.1 percent and a maximum of 38.1 percent. Now there are voices from China calling on the authorities to impose higher import duties on cars from Europe. Chinese state media, including the Global Times newspaper, report this.

Chinese car makers are said to have called on the authorities to take strong countermeasures’ during a closed meeting organized by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Reuters quotes two anonymous sources. SAIC Motor and BYD were present at the meeting, as well as representatives of European brands such as BMW, Porsche, and Volkswagen. The import tax insisted on by Chinese manufacturers should, for the time being, apply to cars with large gasoline engines.

According to Reuters, 196,000 cars with a petrol engine with a capacity of 2.5 litres or more were shipped from China to Europe last year. Germany is the largest exporter. Currently, an import tariff of 15 percent already applies to such cars. It was previously rumoured that that rate would be increased to 25 percent.

• Also See: Chinese EV Tariffs Causes Upset As BMW, VW And Mercedes-Benz Protest