The European Commission has told EU countries it will continue negotiations with China even after they vote on its proposal to impose final import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, sources familiar with the plans said.
The Commission, which is conducting an anti-subsidy investigation into EVs made in China, has sent its proposal for final tariffs on such EVs to the EU’s 27 members advocating levels that it calculated in September, the three sources said. It has set the vote for this Friday, they added.
At the same time, it included an additional text called a recital, stating that talks so far with China had not resolved the dispute over alleged Chinese subsidies, but that negotiations on a possible compromise could continue even if EU countries agree to the tariff rates.
The European Commission declined to comment.
China’s commerce ministry said last Thursday that teams were negotiating a flexible price-commitment scheme to avert tariffs. The Commission has said it could re-examine a price undertaking- involving a minimum import price and typically a volume cap – having previously rejected those offered by Chinese companies.
The proposed tariffs vary from 7.8% for Tesla EVs built in China to 35.3% for those of SAIC and other companies deemed not to have cooperated with the Commission’s investigation. They are on top of the EU’s standard 10% car import duty.
EU members are due to vote on Friday on whether to back final or “definitive” tariffs for the next five years. They would be imposed unless a qualified majority of 15 EU countries representing 65% of the EU’s population voted against.
A decision, which may require a second round of voting, has to be taken by Oct. 30, the deadline set in the EU anti-subsidy investigation.
If definitive tariffs are imposed, it would mean that provisional duties dating back to July would also have to be paid. Until the end of the EU investigation, companies can cover these with a bank guarantee.