BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – The European Union and China have agreed to hold further technical negotiations soon on possible alternatives to tariffs on China-built electric vehicles, the European Commission and China’s commerce ministry said on Friday.
The EU is set to impose additional tariffs of up to 35.3% next week on electric vehicles built in China, at the conclusion of its anti-subsidy investigation, but has said talks can continue after then.
The two sides are looking at possible minimum price commitments from Chinese producers or investments in Europe as an alternative to tariffs.
“The principals agreed that further technical negotiations would take place shortly”, the Commission said after a video call between EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.
The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation European Union, has already held eight rounds of technical negotiations with Chinese counterparts and said there were “significant remaining gaps”.
A statement from China’s commerce ministry said Beijing “welcomed the EU team to come to China as soon as possible” and that both sides had clarified that price commitments would continue to be the solution to the dispute.
Dombrovskis and Wang affirmed their commitment to finding a mutually agreeable solution, which would need to ensure a level playing field in the EU market and be compatible with World Trade Organization rules, the Commission said.
Wang said a bilateral communication mechanism for implementing and regulating price commitments should be established during the next phase of talks, his ministry said.
China urged the EU two weeks ago not to conduct separate negotiations with companies, warning this would “shake the foundations” of negotiations.
The Commission said Dombrovskis had emphasised that the EU executive’s negotiations with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) do not exclude discussions with individual exporters.
Dombrovskis also raised concerns about China’s investigations into EU brandy, pork and dairy, saying the EU found them “unsubstantiated”.
China said it would continue to conduct its investigations and that they complied with Chinese and World Trade Organization rules.
Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Additional reporting by Joe Cash in Beijing; Editing by Jane Merriman
