Trade war escalates: China responds to EU import tariffs

Cars vs.
Cheese

The Chinese dairy sector complains that they cannot compete with their European competitors, who market their products at lower prices thanks to subsidies.
That story sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Indeed, European carmakers are bemoaning that they don’t stand a chance against subsidized Chinese electric cars.
The EU decided to be the first to take action and imposed hefty import tariffs on Chinese e-cars.
But now the Chinese are striking back.

Dairy research

China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced that it will examine the subsidy schemes of 20 EU member states.
The investigation focuses particularly on the EU’s common agricultural policy, which includes the Netherlands.
This could affect European dairy exports to China, which accounted for 1.7 billion euros just last year.
Meanwhile, the ping-pong match between the two economic superpowers has also attracted the attention of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has indicated it will keep an eye on it.

Tesla

Chinese brands such as BYD, Geely and SAIC face import tariffs of 17% to as much as 38% in Europe. Tesla also builds cars in China, but has been able to demonstrate to the European Commission that it is less dependent on Chinese subsidies than other automakers who produce their cars in China.
As a result, Brussels has lowered the import tariff on Tesla cars shipped to Europe, from nearly 21% to 9%. Read more: