The meeting between the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the Chinese Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, on Thursday 19 September failed to find a solution to avoid the imposition of European tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The two parties still have a few weeks to find a solution, and Mr Wentao said that China would “remain committed to the negotiations on electric vehicles until the final moment”.
As a gesture of goodwill, the European Commission agreed at the end of the meeting to review the price undertaking offers sent by Chinese companies, according to the European Commission’s spokesman on trade issues, Olof Gill.
The bids submitted just before the 24 August deadline were initially rejected because the Commission considered that they did not remove the risk of injury (see EUROPE 13481/18). The procedure provides that, in exceptional cases, tenders may be submitted after the deadline initially set.
“Both sides reaffirmed their political will to pursue and intensify efforts in finding a mutually agreeable solution, which would need to be effective in addressing the problem, enforceable, monitorable, as well as WTO-compatible”, said the Commission.
The channel of communication between the Commissioner and the Minister remains open for the time being, and the teams have been instructed to intensify their efforts to reach an agreement.
However, such an outcome seems less and less plausible, given the differences of opinion between the two parties on the existence of unfair subsidies.
In addition, the vote by Member States to approve countervailing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles is no longer scheduled for 25 September, according to Politico Europe. With more and more officials in capital cities speaking out against the tariffs, the outcome of the vote is uncertain.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the European Commissioner-designate for Spain, Teresa Ribera, reiterated what the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, had said a few days earlier, namely that a trade war must be avoided. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)