During his visit to China on Wednesday 11 September, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said that the imposition of anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles should be “reconsidered”. “We don’t need another war, in this case a trade war”, he said.
The Commission is due to impose its definitive tariffs by the end of October, having already warned Chinese producers in August of the measures that will soon be adopted (see EUROPE 13466/2).
Madrid fears retaliatory measures from China. In recent months, Beijing has launched several anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into European products, including pork (see EUROPE 13433/20). Spain is the leading exporter of pigmeat in the EU (31% of exports in 2023).
Between now and the end of October, Member States will be asked to vote on whether or not to approve the tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles under the comitology procedure. In other words, tariffs could be blocked if a qualified majority of Member States voted against them.
At the beginning of the summer, the provisional tariffs were approved by eleven countries, while four others voted against and nine abstained. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)