This Wednesday, Wang Wentao, China’s Minister of Commerce, met with Robert Habeck, the Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy in Olaf Scholz’s government, to warn him that the imposition of tariffs by the European Union on imports of electric vehicles (EVs) from the Asian giant would “severely interfere” with trade cooperation between the two blocs and negatively impact investment in both Beijing and Berlin.
On the eve of the Chinese delegate’s meeting with Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission, China has indicated that it expects Germany to act in its own interests and pressure Brussels to reverse the trade barriers affecting the automotive sector.
According to an official statement released on Wednesday, Wentao emphasised the need to keep the door open to dialogue “until the last moment” but expects Germany, “as a central member of the European Union,” to take the initiative and play an “active role” in addressing the issue with the Commission.
For his part, Habeck stated that his country supports free trade and used the meeting to “welcome” automotive and spare parts investments in Europe, asserting that “everything possible” should be done to avoid trade conflicts.
Berlin’s statements align with recent remarks from Italy, where the Italian Minister of Economic Development, Adolfo Urso, admitted that the cooperation between Italian manufacturers and the Asian giant has a “solid” foundation and “enormous” potential.
Meanwhile, last week Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, called on Europe during his official visit to China to reconsider member states’ positions on tariffs on Chinese electric cars.
“We do not need another war, in this case, a trade war,” Sánchez asserted, also expressing his “surprise” to the Chinese authorities about involving potential sanctions against the Spanish pork sector in this electric vehicle trade conflict.
