EU Imposes Tariffs of Up to 35% on Chinese Electric Vehicles, Only 7.8% for Tesla

The European Commission today imposes the promised high tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) made in China, officially concluding an investigation launched a year ago into unfair subsidies. The tariffs will be in place for the next five years.

As previously reported, the investigation found that the BEV value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidies that pose a threat of economic injury to EU BEV manufacturers. As a result, the duties will enter into force the day after publication in the Official Journal.

The Commission has used its trade powers to break the impasse and approve the duties, which come on top of the existing 10% rate and vary by brand, as shown below.

Tesla: 7,8%

BYD: 17%.

Geely: 18.8%.

SAIC: 35,3%

Other electric vehicle manufacturers in China that cooperated in the investigation but were not individually selected will pay 20.7 per cent

Other electric vehicle manufacturers in China that did not cooperate will pay 35.3%.

The executive argues that the additional tariffs are necessary to offset the effects of the subsidies it claims Beijing is injecting on a large scale into its domestic EV sector. The generous financial aid has allowed Chinese manufacturers to sell their cars at artificially lower prices than their European competitors, the Commission confirms.

At the same time, the EU and China continue to work on alternative WTO-compliant solutions that would be effective in addressing the issues identified in the investigation. The Commission also remains open to negotiating price commitments with individual exporters, as allowed by EU and WTO rules.