China-built electric vehicles subject to import duties in largest EU trade case to date

The European Union will impose import duties of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles from China from Friday, EU officials said, stoking tensions with Beijing in the biggest trade dispute yet in Brussels.

However, there is a four-month period in which the tariffs are provisional and intensive talks between the two sides are expected to continue as Beijing threatens large-scale retaliation.

The European Commission’s provisional import duties of 17.4% to 37.6% without retroactive effect are intended to prevent a flood of cheap electric cars built with state subsidies, President Ursula von der Leyen said.