Faced with the risk of a trade war, China agrees to launch anti-subsidy investigation consultations against the EU

In view of the unfair competition caused by China's excess production capacity and government subsidies in international trade, the United States and the European Union have successively announced high tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. There is news that Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau is also considering imposing new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. This is undoubtedly a further blow to China's exports of new energy products.

According to China's official Xinhua News Agency, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao held a video conference with European Commission Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on June 22. "The two sides agreed to launch consultations on the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles."

The United States had already announced in May this year that it would impose a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, long before the EU threatened to impose additional tariffs on China. The EU warned this month that it would impose additional import tariffs of up to 38% on some Chinese electric vehicles from July following an anti-subsidy investigation.

The outside world has noticed that although Beijing had previously taken quick countermeasures and launched an anti-dumping investigation on EU pork products, facing the risk of the EU and the United States simultaneously launching a trade war against Beijing, "consultation" is obviously the best strategy to avoid continued economic turmoil.

AFP quoted an EU spokesman on Sunday as saying that the two sides will hold contacts at all levels in the coming weeks, but the EU stressed that any negotiation results must effectively address the issue of harmful government subsidies.

German Vice Chancellor Habeck, who is visiting China, also said that the above-mentioned "consultations" are a "good" first step in the long road of China-EU trade in the future.