China and Europe reach 'technical consensus' on anti-subsidy tariffs on electric vehicles

Beijing - China and the European Union have reached a "technical consensus" on the ongoing negotiations on anti-subsidy tariffs for electric vehicles, especially on the price commitment framework and the implementation mechanism of the agreement, Chinese media reported.

China Central Television's new media "Yuyuan Tan Tian" reported on Saturday (November 16) that the European Union's technical team on the specific content of the EU's anti-subsidy case of electric vehicles in China price commitment plan, conducted five rounds of consultations in Beijing from November 2 to 7, the two sides have reached a "technical consensus", especially in the price commitment framework and agreement implementation mechanism has reached a consensus. Both sides cited progress in their press releases.

"Consensus on the price commitment framework" means that the two sides have reached a certain consensus on the overall framework at this round of negotiations, indicating that the two sides are willing to focus resources on the negotiation of core interests and strive to meet each other halfway.

Yuyuan Tan Tian cited professionals who pointed out that the previous negotiations between the two sides involved the core issue of how to achieve "regulatory" and "enforceable", and the European side has always had an "unrealistic extreme perfectionism", and has always had doubts about the price commitment plan proposed by the Chinese side, fearing that it is difficult to implement and difficult to supervise. This time, the two sides have made some progress on this issue.

The European Union decided at the end of October to impose additional duties of up to 35.3 percent on electric vehicles imported from China for five years. Currently, China and the EU are trying to reach a price commitment agreement, that is, to negotiate a mutually acceptable export price in exchange for EU tariff exemptions.