Europe’s electric vehicle tariffs seemingly trigger response from China

Last week, reports emerged stating that Europe is pondering additional tariffs for China-made electric vehicles. With the additional tariffs in place, some electric vehicles from select automakers could see additional tariffs of up to 38% from next month. China, it seems, is now looking to strike back. 

As noted in a report from The New York Times, China’s Ministry of Commerce has initiated an investigation into Europe’s pork exports into the country. China is one of the largest customers of Europe’s pork industry, and as per the Ministry of Commerce, it was investigating if pork from the European Union was being dumped to China at unfairly low prices. 

Depending on the results of the investigation from China’s Ministry of Commerce, dozens of meat products from Europe could see additional tariffs. The Ministry of Commerce, for its part, claimed that the investigation was being implemented upon request from the China Animal Agriculture Association. The China Animal Agriculture Association is a government-affiliated group, the NYT noted. 

The China Animal Agriculture Association has not issued a comment about the matter. The European Union has not issued a comment about China’s potential tariffs on its pork imports as well. 

The European Commission’s announcement last week sent shockwaves through the region’s electric vehicle sector, partly because it affected automakers that simply produce vehicles in China. American electric vehicle maker Tesla, for example, imports vehicles like the re-engineered Model 3 sedan from its Gigafactory Shanghai facility. Such vehicles could now face additional tariffs.

With the European Commission’s additional tariffs in place, Tesla stands to receive an additional 21% tariff on Giga Shanghai-made vehicles that are being brought to Europe. Other automakers are expected to be affected as well. BYD, for one, is expected to receive additional tariffs of 17.4%. Geely, which owns Volvo, will receive 20% additional tariffs. SAIC, which owns MG, will receive a notable 38.1% additional tariff for EVs that are imported into Europe. 

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