The mystery is solved: France won the match against Germany and Europe will open an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese electric cars. In this way, the fear of the German nation about possible retaliation from China regarding this move has become more hidden.
For months, the French government has pressured the European Commission to launch an anti-dumping investigation against insurgent Chinese electric car manufacturers. This could pave the way for Europe to impose additional taxes against Chinese vehicles that are sold more cheaply and weaken European competition.
However, countries like Germany do not want to implement any punitive measures, because Its manufacturers are highly exposed to the Chinese market and any retaliation would hurt them badly.. The main recourse the major powers have is to enter a trade war with China. That is why everyone is carefully watching the annual speech before the Parliament of the Commonwealth.
This morning, Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that Brussels will open an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese electric cars. According to the president of the European Commission, These cars “distort” the EU market. This investigation will be one of the largest commercial cases initiated due to the size of the market.
“World markets are being flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars. And because we won’t accept them from the inside, we won’t accept them from the outside either. So I’m announcing today that the Commission is launching an investigation into sanctions against of subsidies for electric cars from China ” by von der Leyen.
In addition, he added that European manufacturers are “often excluded from foreign markets. “They are often underpriced by competitors who benefit from large state subsidies.”
According to Financial Times this investigation has been planned for months and Ursula von der Leyen herself conveyed to Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang the EU’s concern about China’s trade practices in the electric vehicle sector in a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
This investigation was opened to try to avoid a repeat of what happened to its solar industry in the early 2010s, when photovoltaic factories, undercut by cheap Chinese imports, declared insolvent.
If they are found violating trade rules, Chinese manufacturers could be hit with punitive tariffs. “This is an important step by the Commission, which signals a willingness to use trade instruments more actively to protect the European industry and prevent the experience of the solar panel failure from being replicated in the automotive industry,” he said. Simone Tagliapietra, member of the Bruegel think tank, based in Brussels.
Faced with this decision, brands like Volkswagen are waiting for China’s reaction, because, in the event of a trade war, they could come out badly by having their factories and one of their -first market, after Europe, in Asia. .
