The EU refuses to cancel unreasonable tariffs, China has increased its counter-sanctions, and Germany has proposed a new plan. What new counter-sanctions measures has China taken? What is Scholz's proposed solution?
On July 4, the EU's temporary tariffs on Chinese imports of electric vehicles will be officially implemented. In order to avoid triggering an unnecessary "trade war", China and the EU are trying to reach a negotiated solution. According to people familiar with the matter, the European Union has decided to lower the tariffs imposed on Chinese electric vehicles, but the reduction is only between 0.5% and 0.1%, which is almost negligible.
It is very understandable that the EU has lowered tariffs, which shows that the countermeasures taken by China have worked, that is, the anti-dumping investigation of EU pork products has successfully hit the sore spot of many EU countries, making them retreat, understanding that they cannot lose the Chinese market, otherwise the European pork industry will face huge economic losses, and it is the right move to push the EU to cancel the tariff policy. Therefore, the EU is willing to negotiate with China because it feels the pressure brought by its member states, and it is willing to adjust the tariff range. However, given that the EU is only willing to cut tariffs by up to 0.5%, it is clear that the EU is only cosmetic under internal pressure.
You must know that this kind of negligible magnitude is simply not acceptable to China, and it is not the result that China wants, and what China wants is for the EU to cancel this unreasonable tariff policy, not to make a show here. In doing so, the EU is a typical toast and does not realize the seriousness of the problem, and in this case, it is necessary for the Chinese side to let the EU remember it for a long time. Following the anti-dumping investigation of pork products from the European Union, the Ministry of Commerce of China has recently increased its counter-sanctions. On the 27th, the Ministry of Commerce of the mainland announced that the five-year anti-dumping measures against the EU imports of toluidine had expired, and China would conduct a final review. If the review determines that the removal of anti-dumping measures will be detrimental to our domestic industry, then China may continue to impose tariffs to protect the legitimate rights and interests of domestic enterprises.
Immediately afterwards, on the same day, the Ministry of Commerce of the mainland also announced that it would review the damage caused by the EU's "Foreign Subsidies Regulation" to Chinese enterprises investing and operating in Europe. Based on the EU's various repressive measures, this time China obviously does not intend to endure it and respond positively to the EU's unilateral sanctions. At the same time, it is also telling the EU that if the tariff policy is not lifted before July 4, China's countermeasures will be more violent. So will the EU lift tariffs on electric vehicles in China? For now, it is mainly up to Germany, Hungary, Poland and other countries that oppose the tax hike policy to play a role within the EU.
It is reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz proposed a new solution, that is, both China and the EU will impose a 15% tariff on each other's imported cars, so that there is no unfairness, and the EU's face will not be too ugly. It can be seen that Scholz is really in a hurry this time. The reason is very simple, once China and Europe set off a "trade war", a large number of German car companies will be affected by the tariff policy, which is not conducive to the economic and trade exchanges between China and Germany. However, the EU originally imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles at 10%, and even if they were to impose tariffs according to Scholz's proposal, they would still damage the interests of Chinese auto companies, which is still very different from the tariff policy that China wants.
At present, China and the EU are still negotiating, and there is still room for maneuver before July 4, and whether the "trade war" between China and the EU can be avoided depends on how the EU chooses. During this period, China should also prepare for the worst and be prepared to respond to the EU's repressive measures, after all, it has not been a day or two since the EU has been closely following the pace of the United States to contain China.