The EU votes to apply extra tariffs on Chinese EVs

As it turned out, the rumors were true. Yesterday, a report came out claiming that the majority of EU member states are in favor of raising tariffs on Chinese EVs. The tariffs will come into effect by October 31 and will be added on top of the currently existing 10% flat tax rate. The policy has a five-year time frame.

But the tariffs won't be equal for everyone. For example, BYD gets 17% duty, Geely gets 18.8% additional tax and Tesla sees only a 7.8% rate. SAIC, on the other hand, is hit the hardest with 35.3%. Even though Tesla isn't a Chinese automaker, a large portion of its vehicles sold in Europe are imported from China.

As per Bloomberg's report, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia voted against, while Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Poland voted in favor of the proposed tariffs. Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, on the other hand, abstained from casting a vote.

Despite the imposed import taxes, China and the EU are still working on finding a solution that's in compliance with the WTO (World Trade Organization) regulations. However, it won't be an easy task as even after the European Commission's probe, China denies the subsidies it provides to EV manufacturers.

Source| Via