A look at China-EU ties and how it impacts trade
Trade is at the heart of Chinese President Xi Jinping's tour of Europe, at a time when China-EU ties are strained.
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00:00 Trade is at the heart of Chinese President Xi Jinping's tour of Europe at a time when
00:05 China-EU ties are strained. After meetings in France and Serbia, Xi will travel to Hungary
00:12 to meet with President Viktor Orban and talk cars, among other economic issues. China regards
00:18 Hungary as one of its closest European partners. Beijing has invested heavily in electric vehicle
00:24 factories there.
00:26 Hungary has really invested in this China-Hungary friendship. They now build up their connectivity
00:36 and infrastructure. There is big Chinese investment in the automobile battery businesses in Hungary.
00:45 And Hungary is positioned well to be a leading nation in Europe, for example, for the production
00:52 of EV cars.
00:54 In 2022, Chinese-made electric cars accounted for just under 4% of the European market,
01:01 compared with 0.4% in 2019. The spike prompted an investigation by the European Commission
01:09 to find out whether Chinese state subsidies are artificially deflating prices to the detriment
01:15 of European manufacturers. Vehicles from China are said to be 20% cheaper than European models.
01:22 Insurance insurer Allianz says the EU car industry could lose more than 7 billion euro
01:28 per year in net profits to China by 2030. But there are other issues behind this battle.
01:35 If we don't send a strong signal here that we are willing to enforce free competition
01:39 on markets, you might see many more sectors being affected by this type of Chinese competition
01:43 and for competition in the near future.
01:46 EU investigations don't automatically lead to additional customs duties on Chinese-made
01:52 vehicles. The European Commission has launched more than 340 inquiries into subsidies granted
01:59 to Chinese imports since 2008. It has until July 4 to make rulings on its latest investigation.
02:07 [SWOOSH]