Decision time on EU’s China EV tariff

The European Commission (EC) implemented a provisional tariff increase on China-made battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in July 2024, concerned about the future of its own manufacturing industry in the wake of growing foreign competition. Following a nine-month investigation into subsidies by the Chinese government, the EC concluded “that the BEV value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.” EVs coming over from China were previously subject to a 10% import tariff, but this move slapped an additional 17.4%-37.6% on top of that. It’s now time to decide whether to make that more permanent.