Europe to Triple BEV Tariffs on Three Chinese Car Makers

The European Commission has taken a significant step in addressing what it perceives as unfair subsidies in the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China. The Commission has provisionally concluded that the leading BEV suppliers in China are benefiting from these subsidies, prompting an increase in import tariffs on three key players.

Specifically, the Commission is proposing tariffs of 38.1% on SAIC, 20% on Geely, and 17.4% on BVD. These tariffs could also apply to vehicles manufactured by Tesla in China and then imported to Europe. This move comes at a time when BYD is preparing to introduce its low-cost Seagull BEV, while the US has imposed 100% tariffs on EV imports from China.

While other BEV producers in China that cooperated in the investigation but were not sampled would face an average duty of 21%, Tesla, following a substantiated request, may receive an individually calculated duty rate. For those producers in China that did not cooperate in the investigation, a residual duty of 38.1% would apply.

These new tariffs are in addition to the existing 10% tariff on battery electric vehicles from China, resulting in overall duties ranging from 31% to 48.1%. The European Commission emphasized that the purpose of these provisional countervailing duties is to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage enjoyed by Chinese BEV producers due to subsidy schemes in China.

According to the Commission, the battery electric vehicle sector plays a crucial role in the EU's green transition, with the goal of having all new cars registered in Europe be zero-emission by 2035. The Commission stressed the importance of preventing strategic dependencies on foreign partners in this critical sector and ensuring fair competition in the market.