Commerce minister to discuss EV tariffs

China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao is scheduled to visit Europe and hold talks with Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission (EC), on September 19 regarding the anti-subsidy probe of the European Union (EU) into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), the Chinese  Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday. 

The planned visit comes after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's just-concluded visit to China, where both sides pledged to explore broader cooperation in emerging sectors such as new energy and the digital economy, despite ongoing China-EU trade frictions.

Experts said that the upcoming negotiations will focus on the key interests of both sides after several previous rounds of talks, and this approach is likely to reduce the risk of trade conflicts and prevent an escalation of tension. 

The Chinese government and the Chinese auto industry have been actively working to find a proper resolution through dialogue and consultation since the EU initiated an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese EVs.

On Monday, China's Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei visited Brussels to meet with senior EU officials. Li said China wishes to continue discussion of a potential resolution to the trade issue, following the EC's release of the pre-final disclosure of tariffs on August 20, according to the ministry. 

"The diverse positions of EU countries and the bloc's tendency to generalize political and security concerns will introduce uncertainties into the talks and final decisions," Zhang Monan, deputy director of the Institute of American and European Studies at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Ahead of the upcoming talks, Spain, which had previously backed the EC's tariff plans and voted in favor during a non-binding but still influential consultation in mid-July, showed a significant reversal of its position regarding the extra tariffs on Chinese EVs.

Sánchez called on "not only member states but also the [European] Commission" to reconsider plans for the impending tariff hikes against China on Wednesday, the last day of his highly watched visit to China, according to media reports.

"We don't need another war, in this case, a trade war," Sánchez said during a visit to Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province, expressing his hope to act as a "bridge" between the EU and China.

 China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday welcomed Sánchez's call, highlighting shared interests in the development of the EV sector and calling on the bloc to engage in dialogue to address trade disputes and foster stable China-EU economic and trade ties.

Rifts between political and economic interests within the EU are widening. "The shifting stances of major European countries such as Spain and Italy indicated their recognition that confronting China with unilateral tariffs could lead to an untenable lose-lose situation," Zhang said.

In July, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, during her China visit, which was seen as seeking to recalibrate China-Italian relations, pledged to deepen cooperation with China across various sectors including EVs, and voiced opposition to "decoupling" and protectionism.