EU hikes tariffs on China’s EVs

The European Union plans to introduce additional tariffs from 17% to 38% on imports of electric vehicles (EVs) from China. This will apply on top of the EU’s standard 10% car tariffs


Quarterly electric car sales by region (2021-2024, millions)
     
China Europe U.S. Rest of world Totals

EU tariff rates by automaker
BYD 17.4%
Geely 20.0%
SAIC 38.1%

5

4

3

2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3
  0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
1 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.9 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.8
  0.5 0.6 0.9 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.7 1.9 1.4 1.9 2.2 2.7 1.9
0	  6.8m		  10.1m		  13.9m	  4.9m
  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Q1
  2021 		  2022 		  2023 		  2024 


Rise of China’s EV industry

2001-05: China’s Five-Year Plan introduces EV technology as priority science research project
 
2007: Wan Gang (left) – auto engineer who had worked for Audi in Germany for 10 years – becomes China’s Minister of Science and Technology

2008: Wan makes national decision to launch EV industry

2009: Chinese government starts handing out financial subsidies to EV companies to build buses, taxis, and cars
     
2019: Tesla builds US$2 billion Gigafactory in Shanghai in just 168 working days with Chinese government support

2022: Industry receives over $29 billion in EV subsidies and tax breaks since 2009

2023-24: European Commission concludes that China’s EVs benefit from unfair subsidisation

Jul 4, 2024: Countervailing duties to be introduced


Sources: Bloomberg, CSIS, MIT Technology Review, Reuters 
Picture: Schaeffler AG 
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