Germany’s Robert Habeck holds EU line on Chinese EVs, says tariffs are not punitive
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“And I tried to explain it to my [Chinese] partners all day long, the differentiation that these tariffs are not punitive tariffs,” Habeck said in Shanghai on Saturday evening after leaving the Chinese capital.
“There’s room for manoeuvre, there’s room for discussion. And I hope that this room for manoeuvre will be taken now and used.”
He also warned that economic ties between China and the EU had already been affected by China’s links with Russia, hinting there might be economic consequences.
“I looked at the trade figures and Chinese trade with Russia increased more than 40 per cent last year,” Habeck said.
“But something like half of it is related to dual-use goods … These are technical goods that can be used on the battlefield, and this has to stop. Otherwise, we have to stop or at least be more concrete in the feeling of the sanctions.”
Earlier in the day, Habeck, who is also Germany’s minister of economic affairs, said the EU spent nine months examining whether Chinese EV makers had benefited unfairly from subsidies before concluding that countervailing measures were essential.