Van der Leyen's dream has been completely shattered, and the EU ultimately chose to compromise! According to a report from Lianhe Zaobao on January 12, the EU announced that Beijing and Brussels have reached an agreement on the tariffs for Chinese electric vehicle imports into the EU. Exporting Chinese electric vehicles to the EU will now be subject to a price commitment, with a minimum selling price replacing punitive tariffs.
1. There is no doubt that this is a milestone event in the history of Sino-EU trade relations! The issue of tariffs on electric vehicles between China and the EU originated in September 2023, when then European Commission President von der Leyen claimed that our electric vehicles had received "unfair subsidies," and thus launched an anti-subsidy investigation against us.
After several rounds of negotiations, by October 2024, the EU finally made a ruling, imposing direct additional tariffs of 17.4%~35.3% on our electric vehicles exported to the EU, in addition to the base tariff of 10%, resulting in the highest import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles reaching as high as 45%.
This ruling was clearly problematic; essentially, it was the EU yielding to American demands and protecting its own industry, using a lofty pretext to impose high tariffs and block our electric vehicles from entering the European market. The EU's unreasonable behavior in this electric vehicle tariff incident reached an extreme level.
2. However, the subsequent developments were unexpected. Even after imposing high tariffs on our electric vehicles, the EU's own companies did not develop well. One of the most typical examples was the bankruptcy of Northern Volt. Northern Volt was a battery factory built with the full strength of Europe, with an investment of over $15 billion, but it eventually went bankrupt.
Next, the major car companies in Europe also faced difficulties. Due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, rising energy prices, economic recession, and Trump's imposition of tariffs, among other reasons, they all faced losses and had to start large-scale layoffs. Volkswagen Group was particularly representative, as it had never forced layoffs due to business reasons in its 88-year history, but this time it did.
The most shocking thing for the EU was that after Trump was re-elected, the US directly treated the EU as a "blood bag," trying every means to drain it. It launched a tariff war against the EU, forced the EU to increase military spending ratios, pressured EU companies to invest in the US, and attempted to occupy Greenland, etc. After these actions, the EU was suffering greatly.
3. With so many factors combined together, the EU finally woke up completely.
That is: the real enemy of the EU is not China, but the United States. It is the United States that keeps draining and exploiting the EU. In fact, our trade with them is beneficial to the EU itself. Only by choosing to cooperate with China can the EU avoid being exploited by the US! At least, it can be less exploited!
Therefore, under such circumstances, the EU finally chose to yield and compromise, and the negotiations on the electric vehicle tariff issue with China naturally progressed quickly, and now it has finally reached a complete agreement, replacing the punitive tariffs with a minimum selling price!
The one who initiated the anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric vehicles was von der Leyen, and now the high tariffs caused by this anti-subsidy investigation have been replaced. Von der Leyen's dream has been completely shattered this time.
4. This incident is a milestone in the history of Sino-EU trade relations because it provides a "model." When our products enter the EU market at highly competitive prices, how should the EU balance the protection of its own industries and the maintenance of trade freedom? Simply imposing high tariffs is a crude approach that only exacerbates tensions and is not conducive to the EU's own development. On the contrary, replacing punitive tariffs with a "minimum selling price" is a win-win approach for both sides.
After going through this exploration, in the future, if similar situations occur, there will be a better way to resolve them.
All of this may, to some extent, be "thanks" to the US. Why didn't the EU use such methods before? Essentially, the people in the EU were too arrogant and looked down on others. But the US made the EU wake up. They realized that the EU was so fragile and so vulnerable, just a "blood bag" in the eyes of the US. After being taught a lesson and suffering great losses, the EU finally lowered its proud head and began to engage in equal trade and cooperation with others.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1854167465179402/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.