The European Commission has concluded its investigation into unfairly subsidised electric vehicles (EVs) from
China by imposing definitive countervailing duties.
The investigation found that the EV value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation which is causing threat of economic injury to EU producers of EVs. As a result, the Commission has chosen to enforce countervailing duties on the EVs.
Chinese EV manufacturers will be subject to the following import duties:
- SAIC: 35.3%
- Geely: 18.8%
- BYD: 17.0%
- Tesla: 7.8%
Other cooperating companies will be subject to a duty of 20.7% and all other non-cooperating companies will have a duty of 35.3%. The import duties will be enforced for a period of five years.
EVP and Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, commented on the imposed duties: “We welcome competition […] but it must be underpinned by fairness and a level playing field. By adopting these proportionate and targeted measures after a rigorous investigation, we’re standing up for fair market practices and for the European industrial base.”
The
EU investigation into Chinese EVs was rumoured in June and launched at the beginning of October.
In parallel, the EU and China continue to work towards finding alternative, World Trade Organization-compatible solutions that would be effective in addressing the problems identified by the investigation. The Commission also remains open to negotiating price undertakings with individual exporters.
Similarly, the
U.S. and
Canada recently imposed their own tariff rates on Chinese-imported EVs, with some duties being up to 100%.
The investigation was announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, based on growing evidence about the recent and rapid rise in low-priced exports of EVs coming from China to the EU.
Read more about the initial investigation by the EU
here.
