BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission started an investigation on Wednesday to assess whether the European Union needs to impose tariffs to protect itself against Chinese electric vehicle producers benefiting from state subsidies.
“Global markets are now flooded with cheaper electric cars. And their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual address to the bloc’s parliament.
European carmakers have realised they have a fight on their hands to produce lower-cost electric vehicles and erase China’s lead in developing cheaper, more consumer-friendly models.
Von der Leyen stressed the importance of electric vehicles to the EU’s ambitious environmental objectives.
“So I can announce today that the Commission is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China. Europe is open to competition. Not for a race to the bottom,” she told the European Parliament.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Philip Blenkinsop, Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)
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