In the U.S., multiple automakers – including Ford – and various government officials have been quick to call cheap Chinese EVs a “threat,” not only to American companies trying to compete with them, but also, to national security. Thus, even though no Chinese EVs are currently sold in the U.S., the Biden Administration recently worked to preemptively level the proverbial playing field by increasing tariffs on those models – and the batteries that power them – by a substantial margin. Now, it seems as if the European Union may follow suit as well.
According to a new report from the Associated Press, the executive arm of the EU – the European Commission – has stated that it intends to impose provisional tariffs that will raise tariffs on Chinese EVs from the current rate of 10 percent up to as much as 38 percent depending on the company, though at the same time, it has also reached out to Chinese authorities to “explore possible ways to resolve the issues” it discovered when investigating subsidies available to those companies.
If these discussions don’t result in an “effective solution,” the European Commission plans to implement its new tariffs on a provisional basis by July 4. Chinese EVs are being imported into Europe on an increasing basis as of late, which the commission argues creates a bit of an unfair competition with domestic models, as each “benefits from unfair subsidization, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers,” it said in a statement.
At this time, the BYD Seagull – which retails for less than $10k in China and was specifically highlighted by Ford CEO Jim Farley as a major threat to its business – is slated to launch in Europe next year, though for now at least, BYD doesn’t have plans to market its vehicles in the U.S. Meanwhile, Ford is working on a low-cost EV platform of its own as it scrambles to compete with those cheap rivals.
We’ll have more on these proposed tariff increases soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
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