Needs to remove tariffs on your electric cars

We are on April 14. Anyone would say that we have climbed into a concord and we have turned over the speed of sound without pause, without scales. Without stopping to repost.

Since last April 2, the United States began to Apply cars tariffssteel and aluminum but, above all, since it imposed New commercial barriers to almost all of the world, it seems that everything has happened at a dizzying speed.

In just 12 days we have seen USA Impose tariffs on (almost) every inhabited country. Even if I was inhabited by penguins and a handful of humans. We have seen one Chinese response, to the bag falla Increased hostilities In the commercial war, raising tariffs, threats from the European Union, the stock market falling again, increases in the figures of the tariffs that touched the absurd and a final step of Donald Trump with a 90 -day truce and Exemptions in some products Arriving from China.

But before all this happened, there last October 2024, the European Union began to apply tariffs to Chinese electric cars that remain in force. A commercial dispute that has had multiple derivatives.

To start, in Spain we have seen how The government changed minds About tariffs on Chinese electric cars To avoid Chinese reprisals. Reprisals that have reached countries like Italy, where investments have been cast back for supporting these tariffs in the past. Or that they led to Byd, Saic and Geely to file a lawsuit before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Months after the first storm, it seems that Europe and China begin to understand each other. At least that’s what the German newspaper affirms Handelsblatt.

Looking for a land price

To be clear about what we are talking about, you have to know where we come from.

In September 2023the European Union began talking clearly to impose tariffs on Chinese electric cars. The agencies began to defend that the Chinese automobile industry was distorting the market offering electric cars at a very low price.

That low and highly competitive price could allow it because, according to the European Union, their companies were Dopadas with state money. Either with direct subsidies, with soft credits or with the transfer of land, the European Commission ended up voting in favor of imposing what, first, were “Compensatory Rights” And, already in October 2024, they reached the figure of “duty” as we know them.

Before that last approval, the European Union and China maintained an open dialogue on them. So Europe opted for impose tariffs with specific rates to each manufacturer, ensuring that not everyone had received the same aid and depending on the degree of collaboration shown. For example, Byd was the Chinese company that received the least punishment (17.4%) but SAIC, which is the property of the Chinese state, was 37.6%. To these figures we must add the 10% base that any country pays for exporting its cars to Europe.

The rates, in addition, were applied to cars European manufacturers They produce in China. For example, the Volkswagen Group that in China is associated with SAIC has to pay very high tariffs for bring your electric cupra. It was a measure that tried to bring money and investments to Europe but that, with the rejection of China, ended by become a shot in the foot For some countries.

From the first moment, the Chinese government was contrary to this decision and considered discriminatory this way of acting. For its part, the European Union opened the door to dialog combustion cars and plug -in hybrids. A type of especially attractive product in countries like Spain where cars purchases are dominated by low -end vehicles.

Months after that, the German newspaper Handelsblatt It states that the European Union already negotiates with China a land price to its vehicles in exchange for lifting tariffs on electric cars. The media ensures that Maros Sefcovic, EU trade commissioner, has filed conversations with Wang Wentao, Chinese Minister of Commerce. At this meeting, the agreement would have reached a land price to its vehicles.

The problem now is to reach an understanding, in Reuters They explain that so far the minimum prices that the European Union has imposed on foreign products always They have taxed simple products. That is, to non -complex products such as a car. The news agency already advances that from Europe they are willing to reach an agreement with different prices depending on the vehicle.

At the moment, there is no news of what this land would be and if it would also affect cars with combustion engines or only electric vehicles as it happens right now with additional tariffs. Keep in mind that a different land price may make sense due to vehicle size or other variable that represents the quality and final price of the vehicle. It would be completely absurd to impose a land price of 20,000 euros (for example) to a five -meter car and leave the same figure for a large five -meter berling, generally associated with higher quality vehicles, cost and price.

Liberating tariffs on Chinese manufacturers is also an advantage for Europeans who manufacture in Asian soil. In this way they will be able to offer their products without having to pay the corresponding rates so from Germany they already press so that this decision comes forward.

Those who can show more contrary to this proposal are French manufacturers such as Renault or Stellantis. Except the Dacia Springthe Renault group does not bring electric cars from China and has always sold as a value to produce its Renault 5 In France. Stellantis either has Factories in China And in Europe it sells Leapmotor cars but the goal is that are manufactured in European landreuseting the facilities that the company has already distributed throughout Europe.

At the same time, China needs agreements to continue selling cars outside its borders. Its production threatens to create a surplus of vehicles. Byd aims to sneak into the Five largest cars manufacturers in the world And Geely is positioned as third largest producer of electric cars, only behind Byd and Tesla.

Photo | Byd and Antoine Schibler

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