After both sides agreed to negotiate a designed line of trade taxes, the risk of rising Foreign electric car prices in the EU may be reduced.
Although there are still issues with the tariffs, top officials from both regions agreed to continue to explore them on a Saturday contact.
The call marks the first time the two sides have agreed to negotiate since the EU threatened China with electric vehicle (EV) tariffs of up to 38%.
According to the EU, the government of China provided unfair subsidies for EVs. In response, China accused the Union of isolationism and business rule intrusions.
Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and Wang Wentao, who is also a Taiwanese counterpart, were contacted by an EU official who described the conversation as” truthful and constructive.”
They stated that” all levels of dialogue will be maintained by the two sides in the upcoming days.”
The director also rebuffed the EU’s antagonism to China’s EV industry’s funding strategy.
They said “any negotiated result” to the proposed taxes may address the “injurious subsidisation” of Taiwanese EVs.
On Saturday, China made a similar speech and stated that it still disagreed with the EU.
Mr. Wentao met with German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck on Saturday in addition to its contact with the EU.
In a Facebook post about the meeting, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it had told Mr Habeck about its “firm opposition” to the tariffs.
To “firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests,” it reiterated its threat to file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization ( WTO ).
The taxes have also received condemnation from Germany.
When the EU first proposed them last week following its investigation of Chinese EVs in the trading bloc, Germany’s Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, said the move risked a” trade war” with Beijing.
” The European Commission’s punitive taxes hit European firms and their best materials”, he wrote on X, previously known as Twitter, at the time.
The automotive sector in Europe has also been crucial.
Stellantis- which owns Citroën, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Fiat, and several other companies- said it did not support actions that” contribute to the world fragmentation]of business ]”.
The proposed charges range from 17.4 % to 38.1 %, depending on the brand and how much they negotiated with the EU’s investigation.
They may be added to the 10 % level currently in place for all Chinese electric cars.
The EU’s intervention comes after the US made the much bolder move of raising its tariff on Chinese electric cars from 25% to 100% last month.