EU may not announce EV tariffs until after European elections

According to several media reports, the EU Commission will not announce its decision on tariffs on EVs from China until after the European elections on 9 June. A specific date has already been mentioned, but the Commission has denied this.

As reported by German weekly Der Spiegel, citing sources at the EU executive, Brussels has decided to postpone the formal announcement for a few days to keep the issue out of the heated election campaign phase. The announcement had previously been expected on 5 or 6 June, meaning the politically controversial issue would have been made public just days before the election.

Many had assumed that the announcement would be made next Wednesday, as the EU usually reports the results of such investigations to the member states one month before the set date. As the anti-subsidy investigation runs until 4 July, this deadline would be 5 June. But apparently that procedure is not mandatory, which is why the Commission might keep results to itself until the second week of June.

An insider told Reuters that the new date planned is 10 June – i.e. the Monday immediately after the European elections. However, a spokesperson for the EU Commission declared that the date had not yet been confirmed.

It is considered certain that the EU will impose punitive tariffs on electric cars imported from China before the summer break. Valdis Dombrovskis, the Brussels Commissioner for Trade, recently hinted at this. Depending on the source, an increase in the existing tariff from ten to 15 to 25 or even 25 to 30 per cent is in the cards .

Even before the EU has published the results of its investigation, China has already announced a possible response – in the form of import duties of up to 25 per cent on combustion cars above a certain cubic capacity limit.

spiegel.de (in German), reuters.com, politico.eu