Chinese electric cars: towards an explosion in prices because of Europe?

For several days, Chinese electric cars have been in the sights of European authorities. Blame it on the public subsidies they receive. Which could constitute unfair competition towards European manufacturers.

Representatives of the European Union are therefore considering increasing customs duties, in order to compensate for the advantageous prices of these Chinese electric vehicles. This could represent an increase of 10 to 20%. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner responsible for the Internal Market, spoke on this subject on Sunday on LCI:

“Generally – I do not want to prejudge what the results of the investigation that we open will give – but generally, if I look at what happens for the investigations that we open, it often results in increases in rights customs duty of 10 to 20%.”

Getting closer to the American model

“We will see”, Thierry Breton repeated several times, regarding this procedure for which everything remains to be done. In the meantime, the European Commissioner already has an idea of ​​what an increase in customs duties could have.

He actually cited the United States as an example. “Today, there are 10% customs duties on electric vehicles arriving from China in Europe. If I take an example, in the United States, it’s 27.5%”. The gap could therefore quickly be closed between the two.

Chinese authorities speak of European “protectionism”

Interesting, as experts estimate the cost advantage between Chinese and European electric EVs at 20%, to the advantage of the former. The fact remains that China denounces “protectionism” European. She evokes a “negative impact on economic and trade relations between China and the European Union”.

The country, which has been banking on electric cars for a long time, simply believes it is reaping the benefits of its investments. Remember that an investigation was opened last Wednesday by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The aim is to judge Chinese public subsidies for electric automobiles, which are driving prices down. This is to defend European industry.