EU imposes provisional tariffs on Chinese EVs as negotiations fail to reach an agreement

After announcing the new tariffs on Chinese EV imports in early June, the EU revised the tariffs before making them enter provisional effect today. The tariffs now range from 17.4% to 37.6%, depending on a couple of factors. The new import taxes on top of the already existing 10% import fees, will be provisional from Friday and turn into definitive duties in November.

Negotiations are still ongoing, but it seems like China and the EU aren't able to reach an agreement. The European Commission believes that Chinese EV makers receive unfair subsidies that ultimately hurt domestic production.

MG and SAIC Motor, which didn't cooperate with EU's investigation face 37.6% import duty, while Geely and BYD get 19.9% and 17.4%, respectively. Automakers that cooperated but weren't individually sampled get the average 20.8% import tax.

There's still time until November, and the two parties involved may reach an agreement, or the EU may at least bring down the proposed tariffs.

China threatened to launch a probe into pork imports from the EU, agricultural goods, aviation and cars with large engines.

Nio and Xpeng, spokespeople commented that the two companies remain fully committed to the European market and the latter is exploring options to set up a local manufacturing facility to avoid the tariffs. Both companies said that prices won't be affected by the new tariffs for the time being, but they may be adjusted in the future. Xpeng even said that customers who have already ordered or are about to order a new Xpeng EV will receive the vehicle at the current price. Tariffs won't be applied even if the vehicle arrives after the imposed taxes.

Previously, German automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and VW urged the EU not to take the next step and rethink its tariff strategy. Perhaps the trio is afraid that China will retaliate and impose taxes on German imports. After all, China is the biggest market for the said carmakers.

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