Will be imposed by the EU 48.1% tariff SAIC Motor issued a statement in response

Half two finances

2024-06-13 13:52Published on the official account of the Economic News Center of Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing

The European Commission issued a statement on the 12th that it intends to impose temporary countervailing duties on electric vehicles imported from China from July 4, including 17.4%, 20% and 38.1% tariffs on BYD, Geely Automobile and SAIC Motor, respectively. A 21% tariff will be imposed on other manufacturers, while a separate rate may apply to Tesla vehicles imported from China. SAIC responded that it "will pay close attention to the development of the situation and take all necessary legal and commercial measures to effectively protect its legitimate rights and interests and the interests of global customers."

It is understood that at present, the EU imposes a 10% tariff on all imported cars, plus the countervailing duty, which means that BYD's electric vehicles exported to Europe will have a total of 27.4% tariffs, Geely Automobile will reach 30%, and SAIC will be as high as 48.1%.

Some analysts say that SAIC Motor faces the highest tax rate, which may be related to the largest sales of cars it exports to Europe. Relying on MG, a brand with a European background, SAIC exported nearly 300,000 new vehicles to Europe last year.

On June 13, SAIC Motor issued a statement in response to the European Commission's countervailing duty decision, saying that free trade and fair competition are the key to promoting global economic prosperity and sustainable development. "We are deeply disappointed by the European Commission's decision, which not only violates the principles of market economy and international trade rules, but may even have a significant adverse impact on the stability of the global automotive industry chain and China-EU economic and trade cooperation."

SAIC Motor said that it earnestly hopes that the EU can listen carefully to the voices of Chinese and German auto companies and resolutely avoid artificially setting up trade barriers for new energy vehicles. "We will closely monitor the development of the situation and take all necessary legal and commercial measures to effectively protect our legitimate rights and interests and the interests of our global customers. Call on the European Commission to carefully consider its decision and engage in constructive dialogue with global automotive industry partners, including China, to find solutions that promote fair competition and sustainable development. ”

On June 13, the spokesperson of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade issued a statement on the EU's preliminary ruling on China's electric vehicle countervailing measures, which mentioned that the European Commission still insisted on taking tax measures without any damage to the EU electric vehicle industry, nor did it take the initiative to apply for an investigation, and repeatedly expressed its opposition. At the same time, the EU has provided substantial subsidies to its electric vehicle and battery industries, which is a classic double standard. In the investigation of this case, the European Commission clearly violated the WTO rules, the investigation procedure was obviously unfair and impartial, and the Chinese respondent enterprises were unable to complete the investigation procedures normally, so the European Commission ruled that Chinese enterprises would receive high subsidies under the so-called "available facts" rule, and Chinese enterprises in the industry would resolutely take up legal weapons to defend their legitimate rights and interests under the WTO rules. The European Commission abused the WTO trade remedy rules and arbitrarily adopted trade protection measures, which seriously violated the principles of market economy and international economic and trade rules, and seriously undermined the stability and security of the global electric vehicle industry chain and supply chain.

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade calls on the European side to earnestly abide by WTO rules and immediately cancel the countervailing measures on electric vehicles in China. The cooperation between China and the EU in the electric vehicle industry has broad prospects, and the Chinese and European industries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation, resolve disputes and contradictions through consultation and dialogue, help energy conservation and emission reduction through mutual benefit and win-win results, and achieve green development goals through integrated development.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) is also strongly unhappy with the temporary countervailing duty rate disclosed by the European Commission. On June 12, the association issued a response saying that since the European Commission launched a countervailing investigation into China's electric vehicles in October last year, China's auto industry has actively cooperated with the investigation from the overall situation of maintaining the safety and stability of the Sino-European automobile industry chain, and relevant companies have carefully provided materials in accordance with the requirements of the investigation department. However, in the survey, the European side predetermined the results of the survey, tended to select a sample of enterprises, abused its investigative powers, arbitrarily expanded the scope of the survey, and seriously distorted the survey results. "It is hoped that the European Commission will not regard the current phased vehicle trade phenomenon that must be passed through for industrial development as a long-term threat, let alone politicize economic and trade issues, abuse trade remedy measures, avoid damaging and distorting the global automotive industry chain and supply chain, including the EU, and maintain a fair, non-discriminatory and predictable market environment."

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia

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