An electric model from the Chinese manufacturer BYD, unloaded from the car transport ship “BYD Explorer No. 1”, in the port of Bremerhaven (Germany), February 26, 2024. FOCKE STRANGMANN/AFP The European Union (EU) had shown its divisions in recent months, but it ultimately held its ground and this is a significant setback for China. The vote of Member States, Friday October 4, in favor of customs duties on electric cars manufactured in China marks the failure of an intense Chinese diplomatic campaign – made up of so many promises to open factories on their soil only threats of reprisals – to encourage European capitals to oppose it. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Europe confirms the surcharge on Chinese electric cars Add to your selections China expressed its anger on Friday evening, warning that the decision would “affect and hinder” the determination of its groups to invest in Europe. “China will take all measures to resolutely defend the interests of its companies,” declared a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, noting, however, the European commitment to continue negotiations. There is no doubt that there will be consequences, China considering that it must sanction such an affront. The question is the magnitude of the response. The world’s leading exporter is already largely closing its doors to the North American market, with the United States and Canada having imposed 100% taxes on the entry of its electric vehicles, while Turkey set the bar at 40%. It could be counterproductive for China to raise tensions too high with Europe, its largest export market, because overbidding would lead to a trade war in which Chinese factories would also have a lot to lose. . A sign of the interest in Europe of Chinese brands seeking to internationalize, some are announcing factory projects there, such as BYD, which opened one in Hungary. Cognac “sacrificed” Faced with China, the EU is showing that it is not short of levers, even though it had acted in a dispersed manner on previous issues. After the Biden administration mentioned, on September 23, its intention to block Chinese software and components in connected vehicles, the Vice-President of the Commission, Margrethe Vestager, announced during a visit to the States -United States, at the end of September, that the EU was also very attentive to the subject. At the same time, she studies the practices of very low-cost e-commerce sites, Shein, Temu and AliExpress. The European sectors likely to be targeted by China are known. As early as January, Beijing launched an investigation into French cognac, while Paris has continuously shown itself to be favorable to the adoption of these new customs duties. After the vote of the member states on Friday, the National Interprofessional Cognac Bureau said it did not understand why the sector “is being sacrificed in this way”. “The French authorities have abandoned us,” she wrote in a press release. You have 37.24% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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Author : News7
Publish date : 2024-10-05 02:15:18
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