New challenge for China's EV: EU may raise import tariffs

On 15 May, the Commissioner for External Trade of EU said that the EU is under similar pressure to consider tariff adjustments on Chinese electric vehicles, following additional tariffs imposed by the US on imports of electric cars and other related products from China, according to Politico News.

The European Commission claimed in April that a countervailing duty investigation against several Chinese OEMs that began last year had not received sufficient cooperation from the OEMs. Currently, the EU's car import tax rate is 10%, and the EU may raise tariffs on Chinese car imports to around 25%-30%.

It's worth noting that China's car import tax rate is currently 25%, which may be one of the reasons why some Europeans say it's "relatively fair" to adopt a similar level of tax rate. However, the introduction of similar regulations for Chinese car companies alone, in addition to protecting the local industry of some countries, there are inevitably political considerations.

In 2023, the total value of EU imports of electric vehicles from China is about $13.46 billion, recording a growth of nearly 70%. The EU is currently the largest overseas export market for Chinese EVs, accounting for 39.44% of total exports. Therefore, SMM expects that once the EU tariff rate is raised, it will have a impact on the profitability of some EV companies in their overseas markets.

According to SMM's earlier report, the EU has opened countervailing pre-registration for electric vehicles imported from China since 7 March and retains the right to impose retroactive levies. The EU said earlier that provisional tariffs could be imposed from July before the countervailing investigation ends in November this year. In the US to raise tariffs has become a fact, for the protection of domestic industry considerations, the EU is more likely to ultimately raise tariffs against China's electric vehicle imports.