29 countries under the "challenge", guns unanimously against China, imposing high tariffs on China's electric vehicles, China's countermeasures have been in place, on the other hand, United Kingdom has played a "retreat", what is the reason why United Kingdom did not follow the footsteps of the West? What are China's countermeasures?
Just when United States tried its best to win over Western allies to "chase and fight" China's electric vehicle industry, United Kingdom, as a United States ally, "retreated" and did not blindly follow United States's footsteps, which is really unexpected. On September 3, some Western media pointed out that in the face of the so-called "threat" of China's electric vehicles, United Kingdom, aware of the impact of China's countermeasures, chose to "wait and see" and did not participate in the imposition of high tariffs on Chinese cars. So why didn't United Kingdom dance with the United States this time? In this regard, external public opinion has given four reasons, first, the United Kingdom government is worried about the "trade war" between China and the United Kingdom, which will damage its own economy and environmental protection goals. It should be known that as the largest single export commodity industry in United Kingdom, 80% of United Kingdom cars are exported, accounting for more than 14% of United Kingdom's total exports. China is also an important export market for high-end car manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Bentley, which in turn make up a large share of the United Kingdom automotive industry. If China makes a move, the United Kingdom auto industry may be hit hard.
Second, some United Kingdom businesses, including luxury automakers, are urging the government to proceed cautiously, making it unlikely that the United Kingdom will eventually replicate its allies' imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. In April, the CEO of the United Kingdom Association of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Hawes actively called for more Chinese EV brands to enter the United Kingdom, saying that the move not only reduced the price of EVs, but also encouraged industry innovation, achieving a "win-win" situation for consumers and the automotive industry; Third, the new Labour government has put United Kingdom in a difficult position by sticking to its campaign manifesto promise to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030. Faced with the pressure to increase the import of electric vehicles, the British side does not want to easily "offend" China at this point in time; Finally, EV imports from China have not yet significantly impacted the United Kingdom market, and United Kingdom officials want to "wait and see" to see how China reacts to tariffs imposed on other countries, and to see whether tariffs from other countries will actually lead to a surge in United Kingdom's imports of EVs from China.
At present, 29 countries, including United States itself, have officially issued a "challenge letter" to China on the tariff issue. Earlier, the Biden administration had announced a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, followed by the 27 countries of the European Union. On the 20th of last month, the European Commission made a final decision on the disclosure of China's electric vehicle countervailing investigation, and the countervailing tax rates of the three sampled Chinese electric vehicle companies BYD, Geely, and SAIC were 17.0%, 19.3%, and 36.3% respectively. Then there's Canada, where on August 26, Trudeau authorities announced that Canada would impose a 100% tariff on electric vehicles imported from China and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China.
In July, after the EU imposed high tariffs on China's electric vehicles, China launched anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigations on EU dairy products, pork and brandy. Although China's Ministry of Commerce recently decided not to impose tariffs on EU brandy for the time being, China has filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization over the EU's subsidized tariffs on electric vehicles.
Not only that, because the EU's anti-subsidy investigation on China's electric vehicles is a typical protectionist behavior, some experts have previously put forward specific proposals to increase tariffs on large-displacement fuel vehicles, believing that this is in line with WTO rules and is conducive to the green transformation of the automobile industry. In other words, it cannot be ruled out that China will also increase tariffs on gasoline vehicles in Europe. As for Canada, the spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce recently announced two countermeasures against Canada: first, to resort Canada's relevant practices to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; Second, China will initiate an anti-dumping investigation on rapeseed imports from Canada in accordance with relevant domestic laws and regulations and WTO rules. China will also initiate an anti-dumping investigation against Canada's relevant chemical products based on domestic industry applications. In addition, China will take corresponding measures against Canada in the future according to the actual situation.