During his visit to China, Germany Chancellor Habeck promised the Chinese side that he would bring a message to the EU and call for a settlement of the tariff dispute through dialogue and negotiation, but this set proved to be useless, and on July 4, the EU's policy of imposing temporary countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles has officially taken effect.
For this decision of the European Union, the German government and automobile companies are strongly opposed, because they are worried that this move will be countered by China, which will hurt the business of Germany companies in China, and even affect the overall situation of Sino-German and even Sino-European relations, and the German vice chancellor has also said three times in a row that the tariffs have caused damage to the economy and consumers. But the EU has turned a blind eye to all of this, and has even stepped up its hand to other sectors in which Chinese companies are involved in Germany.
(Germany Vice Chancellor Habeck visits China)
The European Union has expanded its countervailing investigation into Chinese wind turbine suppliers, and Chinese companies doing business in Germany have also been included in the investigation, according to the South China Morning Post.
The EU's countervailing duty investigation into Chinese wind turbine suppliers began in April this year, targeting Chinese companies involved in wind power development projects in Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria. At that time, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the EU expressed its resolute opposition, believing that the EU was supporting trade protectionism and discriminating against Chinese companies. Now, three months later, the EU has expanded its investigation without showing the slightest sincerity in resolving the issue.
(Wind turbines)
Since the EU's Foreign Subsidies Regulation came into effect, five investigations have been initiated under this regulation, four of which are aimed at Chinese companies, involving railways, solar energy, wind energy and monitoring equipment, so it is no exaggeration to say that the Foreign Subsidies Regulation is a special law introduced by the EU to suppress Chinese enterprises. And each time the Chinese side expressed its resolute opposition and demanded that the EU correct its mistakes and face up to China's concerns, the EU did not listen to it once.
Since China's kind reminders and solemn warnings cannot change the EU's obstinate actions, then it is no wonder that China has treated others the way they have done it.
(Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting)
The Ministry of Commerce has officially announced an investigation into the EU's trade and investment barriers to Chinese companies. It is expected to end on January 30 next year. If trade barriers are found, the Ministry of Commerce can take corresponding measures in accordance with the law, such as conducting bilateral consultations, activating multilateral dispute settlement mechanisms, and so on.
This is also the latest round of countermeasures taken by China after the EU announced its decision to impose tariffs on China, after China has announced that it will conduct anti-dumping investigations on pork products originating in the EU, and in addition, China is promoting the relevant procedures for increasing the provisional tariffs on the import of large-displacement gasoline vehicles. It can be seen that after the communication did not achieve the results we wanted, China's countermeasures are gradually increasing and escalating.
The EU's series of targeted measures against Chinese enterprises have only one final result, which is to harm China-EU trade, undermine China-EU relations, and lead to the gradual "decoupling" of China and Europe.
In fact, the pain of decoupling from China's economy has already been tasted by EU member states, this country is the Italy, after the country's Prime Minister Meloni came to power, in order to show loyalty to the United States, announced the withdrawal from the "Belt and Road" initiative, the result is that the country's economy is becoming more and more sluggish, and the fiscal deficit is getting more and more serious. After a series of blows, Meloni has realized the seriousness of the problem and is preparing to visit China in the near future to seek to ease relations with China and expand trade cooperation with China. If the EU does not learn the lessons of Italy, there will always be a time to pay for its decisions.