China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Antonio Tajani, Italy’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, on Monday, in which the two sides discussed the EU’s anti-subsidy case against China’s electric vehicles (EV). Wang said China hopes the European Commission (EC) will respond to the calls of all parties and properly resolve China-EU economic and trade differences through dialogue and consultation based on the consensus reached by Chinese and European leaders, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Wang told Tajani that the EU’s anti-subsidy investigation against China’s EV is a major issue currently affecting China-EU economic and trade cooperation and the Chinese side regrets to learn that the EC has hastily and completely rejected a package plan proposed by China, and has not shown the political will to properly resolve the issue through consultation, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
During his trip, Wang also met with Italy’s Industry Minister Adolfo Urso and Roberto Vavassori, president of the Italian Association of the automotive industry.
Chinese analysts told the Global Times that the meeting by the Chinese commerce minister with high-ranking officials and industry representatives of EU member countries ahead of Wang’s upcoming meeting with EC Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on September 19 has demonstrated China’s sincerity in addressing the EV dispute through dialogue, and urged relevant parties in the EU to stick to the path of solving issues through dialogue, rather than resorting to unilateral actions.
The upcoming talks between Wang and Dombrovskis on the EC’s so-called anti-subsidy investigation and subsequent tariffs targeting the Chinese EV industry could potentially provide a path to avoid an escalation of trade tension, according to analysts.
Avoiding lose-lose situation
Cui Hongjian, a professor from the Academy of Regional and Global Governance with Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Wang’s visit to Italy and meetings there have showed China’s sincerity in addressing the issue of EV tariffs through consultation and dialogue and that the Chinese side is pushing toward a solution via consultation with concrete actions.
“The way in which the EU bureaucracy tries to push forward the EV tariffs are apparently not in the best interests of EU member countries,” Cui noted.
The expert urged the two sides to formulate a consensus, which is to avoid lose-lose situation over the issue of EV tariffs, as the basis for consultation and dialogue amid the EU’s thinking that perceives China as more of a competitor.
On September 13, China’s Ministry of Commerce criticized the EC, saying its rejection of the Chinese package plan shows the EC’s lack of sincerity and stressing China’s firm determination to safeguard Chinese companies’ rights and interests.
Wang’s visit to Europe came amid rising calls for a negotiated solution over the EV tariffs.
Spain, which had previously backed the EC’s tariff plans and voted in favor during a non-binding but still influential consultation in mid-July, showed a significant reversal of its position regarding tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Germany is also working to convince EU members to oppose EV tariffs, senior EU sources say, according to the South China Morning Post.
Jian Junbo, deputy director of the Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the EU should refrain from taking unilateral measures over the issue of EV trade disputes and dialogue is the only right way out of tariff disputes.
Jian said the recent development indicated that there is room to address the EV tariff issue from a mutually beneficial point of view but he urged the EU not to resort to protectionism or politicize trade matters but to solve the issue of competition through dialogue.
In a sign of the huge economic complementarity between China and the EU, bilateral trade posted a growth of 1.1 percent during the first eight months of the year, up from a reading of 0.4 percent in the January-July period with the EU remaining China’s second-largest trading partner, data from the Chinese customs showed.
The latest data, despite the EU’s increasingly protectionist measures in face of fierce external competition, showed that the economies of China and the EU are highly complementary, and that China’s mega-market and the EU’s single market can offer huge opportunities for each other’s economic development, analysts noted.
GT
