Europe just slashed tariffs on cars made by Tesla in China
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London CNN —The European Union may have just given Tesla’s future sales in the region a boost by setting tariffs on its China-made vehicles considerably below those imposed on rival electric carmakers.
The high-profile decision comes two months after the EU hiked tariffs on all electric cars imported from China, citing “unfair” state subsidies that unduly benefited the country’s electric vehicle makers at the expense of European manufacturers.
Tesla, which has a factory near Berlin but exports many of the cars it makes in China to Europe, had requested that theEU recalculate its rate, initially set at 20.8%.
On Tuesday, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, set that rate at 9%.
That applies on top of the existing EU duty of 10% on all EV imports, but it is still well below the additional tariffs of between 17% and 36.3% levied on other Chinese automakers.
The European Commission said the tariff reflected the “level of subsidies” Tesla received in China.
“The Commission verified the information during (a) visit in China and conducted the same checks as of the other sampled Chinese exporting producers,” it added in a statement. CNN has contacted Tesla for comment.
BYD electric vehicles awaiting export at the port in Lianyungang in Jiangsu province, China, on April 25, 2024Related article Europe’s electric car tariffs sting China but won’t halt BYD’s advance
Gregor Sebastian, a senior analyst at think tank Rhodium Group, said he was “surprised” that Tesla’s additional tariff had been set at “only 9%.” He pointed to local government loans that the
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