Europe’s EV Policy Toward China Might Backfire
The EU should maintain its focus on decarbonization and competitiveness. New tariffs may undermine both.
A fair race?
Photographer: Liesa Johannssen/Bloomberg
The European Union has escalated its biggest commercial spat with China, imposing tariffs of up to 45% on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. It’s a misstep that one must hope will give way to mutually beneficial negotiation, not launch a trade war that leaves both sides worse off.
No doubt, the EU’s action reflects some reasonable concerns. Chinese companies produce high-quality, affordable vehicles in part thanks to generous (albeit diminishing) subsidies, and vast overcapacity means they need to export abundantly. This threatens a European automotive industry that employs some 13 million people. Europe’s leaders sold the green transition on the promise of creating domestic jobs in clean technologies, not increasing reliance on Chinese imports.