The EU's tariff rate on Chinese imports of electric vehicles has finally landed, and the temporary countervailing duty of up to 38.1% is beyond most people's expectations, and it seems that we think Europe too well. Of course, this decision immediately aroused strong opposition within Europe, and China's Ministry of Commerce also responded as soon as possible! This trade war between China and Europe may be inevitable.
After seven months of countervailing investigations, the EU has finally decided to impose temporary countervailing duties on Chinese imports of electric vehicles, of which BYD has imposed tariffs of 17.4%, Geely Automobile has imposed 20%, and SAIC has reached the highest tariff of 38.1% due to the so-called "low degree of cooperation in the investigation". If the previous base tariff of 10% is included, the tariff on some Chinese EV exports to Europe will be close to the 50% tariff. Although Europe seems to have some leeway compared to the 100% tariffs imposed by the United States, the negative impact of this move is undoubtedly very bad, considering that Sino-European trade is the cornerstone of economic globalization.
Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia in Europe have expressed strong opposition, on the one hand, car companies from these countries have invested in China, and the cars they produce from China are also subject to high tariffs. Germany's Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen made a statement that night, hoping that the EU would quickly revoke the decision, with very high-sounding wording, but the attitude was very urgent. On the other hand, China's countermeasures will be unbearable for some countries in Europe, and countermeasures may already be on the way.
As soon as the EU tariff decision was implemented, the Chinese industry suggested that the government launch anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations on EU dairy and pork products. He Yadong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said that "the investigation authorities will review the applications filed by the domestic industry in accordance with the law", and at the same time, China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into European imports. The start of this trade war is imminent, and China's countermeasures will be thunderous, not only food and agricultural products, including aviation, automobiles, etc., it can be said that China has no intention of saving face at all.
So, is there any possibility and room for a return to the trade war between China and the EU? First, China and Europe are inseparable trade partners, and it is impossible for the two sides to completely cut off trade exchanges in a short period of time. Second, there is no final consensus within the EU on the temporary tariffs imposed this time, and there is still a lot of room for struggle within six months. It has to be said that at this G7 summit, except for Italian Prime Minister Meloni, the rest of the people are mired in domestic politics and cannot extricate themselves. In the current eventful season, we have not forgotten to be so cruel to China, and it seems that the United States and the West are determined to wear a pair of pants.
What China is competing with the United States and the West is not the electric vehicle market, the chip market, etc., but essentially competing for "pricing power". Why does the West have the final say on the price set by Chinese car companies? Why can't you decide the selling price based on your own cost? When the capitalist market economy is no longer free, it often means that the global economic order is running awkward. Incidentally, Saudi Arabia has announced that it will not renew the petrodollar agreement with the United States, further untying the hegemony of the dollar, and 80% of oil sales are still denominated in dollars, but more and more countries are shifting their oil trade to their own currencies. In contrast, the rise of the crackdown on China's overseas markets seems to be trivial, and their real troubles have begun.