China to retaliate if Europe raises EV tariffs

Beijing has vowed to retaliate if the European Union defies its warning and imposes new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). Currently, there is a 10% tariff on all imported cars in Europe.

The EU originally set the date to announce its decision related to provisional tariffs on Chinese EVs for June 5 but it postponed the announcement to June 10, according to Reuters.

The report said the delay aims to avoid affecting the European Parliament election, which will be held on June 6-9.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told some Chinese enterprises in Barcelona, Spain, on June 1 that the investigations recently initiated by the EU into Chinese EVs and other products were conducted under false pretexts such as Chinese overcapacity and unfair competition.

He said these probes involved discriminatory use of trade remedies, international procurement instruments, and foreign subsidy regulations. He added that those moves had increased the risk of escalating China-EU trade frictions.

“We hope that Chinese and European companies can overcome difficulties and jointly build projects for economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe,” he said. “These projects can demonstrate deep integration of the two places’ industrial chains.”

He called on the EU to stop its “protectionism” and cooperate with China.

His comments came after the EU received a five-page letter from the Chinese Commerce Ministry, which expressed serious concerns about the increased pace of trade investigations launched by the European Commission in recent months.

While Beijing called for a truce to avoid further escalation, it warned that the EU’s aviation and agricultural sectors could become China’s retaliation targets.

Last month, China said it