“The European Commission is responsible for the EU’s trade policy,” said EU spokesman Olof Gill at a press conference after being asked about the position of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Pedro Sanchez’s statements on his visit to Beijing have caused a stir in Brussels. His change of position, appealing to “reconsider” the imposition of tariffs on green car batteries imported from the Asian giant, has not been very well received. A change of position that obeys his intention to avoid Chinese retaliation on the Spanish pork sector.
“It is not up to me or the European Commission to prescribe what that solution might look like. That is up to the other party. We are open to negotiation,” Gill said. He thus puts the responsibility for finding a meeting point in the hands of the Chinese authorities. For the time being, the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, will meet with the Chinese Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, on September 19 to discuss these additional tariffs.
“We have launched this investigation based on clear evidence. We have pursued the investigation, at every step, based on the careful and meticulous collection of evidence and by closely following the applicable World Trade Organization (WTO) and European rules,” the European Commission spokesperson responsible for Trade has clarified.
After concluding the investigation, Brussels has proposed provisional tariffs of up to 36% on imports of these products from the Asian market. A figure that in any case is far from the 100% tariffs set by the United States or Canada and up to 70% in the case of India.
Not only Sánchez is asking Brussels for restraint, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has also asked Brussels to reconsider the imposition of additional tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles. China’s powerful automotive industry is already suffering from these provisional tariffs.
