China files appeal to WTO over EU electric vehicle tariffs

Published: August 11,2024

Electric vehicles parked at a port for shipment in Guangzhou City, south China’s Guangdong Province, July 2, 2024. /CFP

China filed an appeal with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday, challenging the European Union’s imposition of provisional additional tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).

To safeguard the development rights and interests of the EV industry and global green transformation cooperation, China appealed to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism over the EU’s provisional countervailing measures on EVs, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The EU’s preliminary ruling lacks a factual and legal basis, seriously violates WTO rules, and undermines global cooperation on climate change, the ministry said.

China has urged the EU to immediately correct its wrong practices and work together to protect the stability of China-EU economic and trade cooperation, as well as the EV industrial chain and supply chain, it said.

In early July, the European Commission imposed provisional additional tariffs on Chinese battery electric vehicle (BEV) makers of up to 37.6 percent. The Commission claimed that the decision was based on an investigation concluding that subsidies benefit the Chinese BEV value chain, posing an economic risk to EU producers.

Xinhua