Chinese-made electric vehicles to be slapped with additional EU import tariffs up to 38%
- New duties ranging from 17.4 per cent to 38.1 per cent to be levied on exporters of EVs from China to the EU is ‘typical protectionism’, Beijing says
The European Union will impose an additional tariff of 21 per cent on imports of most electric vehicles made in China.
Some Chinese companies will face even higher duties. Cars from SAIC will face a 38.1 per cent duty after the commission said it did not participate in the investigation. For BYD, the duty is 17.4 per cent and for Geely it is 20 per cent. Both firms were seen to be more compliant with the EU probe.
The rate will be added to the existing 10 per cent import tariff on the vehicles, bringing the total level to 31 per cent from July 4 for vehicles that were not among those sampled in the probe, after which the European Commission will have four months to affix permanent duties.
The result is that Chinese-made EVs will be more expensive to buy in Europe across the board. Given the lower than average rate afforded to BYD and Geely, European brands who manufacture in China face an unusual situation in which those Chinese models will be even more price competitive than before.