It will now cost far more to buy Chinese made electric cars in Europe, after the EU pushed ahead with higher import charges.
CGTN’s William Denselow has the story.
CGTN’s William Denselow has the story.
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00:00Well, Paul, we heard from a senior EU official speaking to the press on Tuesday that said that while
00:07investigations have been ongoing, really there hasn't been agreement on any single point.
00:12This was the deadline this week for these tariffs to come effect after
00:17European member states at the start of this month, on October 4th,
00:21put to a vote whether to put in these tariffs. The voting
00:26was in favour, 10 member states voting in favour,
00:3012 abstained, 5 against, which does show, however, that while these tariffs have come into effect, it remains a
00:36politically divisive issue. We've heard
00:39from a spokesperson for Germany's
00:43economy ministry
00:44stating essentially that they stand for open markets. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that he fears this could lead to an
00:51economic cold war. However, the playing field
00:55officials tell me that these tariffs get a little closer to achieving that. Of course, that's something that
01:02China has rejected. China's
01:04Chamber of Commerce to the EU saying that this is protectionist and arbitrary.
01:11And so, Will, what happens next and is the European Union open to a new round of negotiations with China to try to resolve this?
01:22Well, we've had eight rounds of official technical talks and the message from both the Chinese
01:30Commerce Ministry as well as the
01:32trade delegation here in Brussels and the European Commission is that they both sides saying that they hope to find a mutually
01:40beneficial solution and that both sides are very much open to
01:45negotiations and for a next round of talks
01:48that could be set to take place in Beijing in the future.
01:52However, we heard from the Trade Commissioner Commissioner Dombrowskis in recent days saying that significant gaps
02:00remain in these discussions. The EU has proposed really a dual track
02:06discussions directly with Beijing and with the
02:10Commerce Ministry as well as
02:12negotiations under price undertakings with individual companies. That though has been rejected by Beijing saying that that would undercut
02:20those formal negotiations.
02:22So, there are certainly hopes that trade talks could continue. Both sides saying they want a speedy and
02:30amicable resolution, but of course plenty of divisions still need to be overcome.