EU, China hold 'constructive' talks on electric vehicle tariffs

BRUSSELS

The EU's trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis has said he had held "constructive" talks with China's commerce minister Wang Wentao as Beijing seeks a deal with Brussels to avoid steep tariffs on imported EVs.

The meeting on Sept. 19 came as divisions grow in Europe over the proposed tariffs, after Spain last week urged the EU to "reconsider" plans for duties of up to 36 percent on Chinese electric cars, joining Germany in opposition.

The European Commission in July announced plans to levy import duties on electric vehicles imported from China after an anti-subsidy investigation started last year found they were unfairly undermining European rivals.

The EU wants to protect its automobile industry, a jewel in Europe's industrial crown providing jobs to around 14 million people.

The commission is in charge of trade policy for the 27-country bloc.

The tariffs are currently provisional and will only become definitive for five years after a vote by member states that should take place before the end of October.

China has angrily responded to the EU's plans, warning it would unleash a trade war. Last month China also filed an appeal with the WTO over the tariffs.

Beijing has already launched its own investigations into European brandy, some dairy, and pork products imported into China.

Dombrovskis told Wang that the probes were "unwarranted, are based on questionable allegations, and lack sufficient evidence", the EU's trade spokesperson Olof Gill said.

"[He] thus called for these investigations to be terminated and informed the Chinese side that the EU will do its utmost to defend the interests of its industries," Gill added in a statement.