欧盟周五决定对中国进口的电动汽车加征更高的关税，此举旨在保护欧洲经济关键产业，同时也加剧了与重要贸易伙伴中国的紧张关系。
这一决策涉及两大全球经济体之间的巨额贸易，并凸显出欧盟在处理与中国的利益冲突上所面临的挑战。中国被视为一些成员国的合作伙伴和一些国家的竞争对手。
与美国和加拿大征收高达100%的关税相比，此轮欧洲加征的关税更为温和，但反映出欧方正通过向华盛顿展现更强硬态度的方式与中国进行外交博弈，同时并不完全关闭对华合作的大门。
这一决定传达了欧盟内部正在逐步形成的一个共识：在经济层面上对中国采取更加强力的反击行动已迫在眉睫。尽管如此，在12个国家未投票支持和5个国家反对的情况下，欧洲各成员国之间的分歧仍然显现出来，部分国家认为中国既是合作伙伴也是竞争者。
加征的关税将在本月31日生效，并持续五年，最高税率将达45%。欧盟方面声称，与中国达成协议以解决其对中方补贴政策不满的问题仍在进行中，这些担忧源于对中国汽车制造商在华获得的政府补助的调查结果。
中国政府则批评了这一决定，称此举违背了公平、合规和合理的贸易原则，并已与欧盟展开双边谈判，寻求推迟执行加征关税措施。中国是欧盟仅次于美国的第二大贸易伙伴，去年双边货物交易额高达7390亿欧元（约8110亿美元）。
中国的商务部指责欧洲此行为“不公正、非合规且不合理地采取保护主义手段”。而中国欧盟商会则指出，中国汽车制造成本更低的原因不是政府补贴，而是中国内部市场激烈的竞争环境塑造的供应链体系。双方在周一将继续进行谈判，以达成解决方案或妥协。
在美欧对中国汽车及货车的安全风险存有疑虑时，欧洲更侧重于保护其汽车产业不受冲击；而汽车行业去年为欧洲提供了1380万个就业机会，并占地区GDP的7%。
德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨的支持“反对”加征关税的决定体现了来自汽车工业界、政府以及主要工会的压力。德国三大汽车制造商宝马、奔驰和大众均在中国有大量投资，因此这一措施可能导致与中国的贸易战。
这一行动反映了欧盟面临全球经济份额缩小的局面，并且与中国和美国相比明显落后。前欧洲央行行长Mario Draghi的报告指出，保护欧洲汽车工厂及公司免受补贴外国生产商威胁至关重要，这有助于维护竞争环境并使欧洲从中国可能带来的生产率提升中受益。但这些措施是否将导致对欧盟成员国的依赖加剧以及与重要贸易伙伴之间的紧张关系的进一步升级，则有待观察。
最终，中国和欧盟双方需要在关税问题上达成共识或解决方案，以维持彼此之间互利合作，并确保汽车行业在全球经济体系中的稳定与可持续发展。
新闻来源：www.nytimes.com
原文地址：Europe Raises Tariffs on China’s E.V.s, Confronting a Key Trade Partner
新闻日期：2024-10-04
原文摘要：
The European Union voted on Friday to impose higher tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China, risking tensions with an important trading partner in an effort to protect an industry crucial to Europe’s economy. The decision affects billions of dollars of trade between two of the world’s biggest economic powers. The move also reveals how the European Union is struggling to reconcile the conflicting interests of its members, some of whom see China as an essential partner while others view it as a dangerous competitor. The tariffs are much lower than the 100 percent duties imposed by the United States and Canada, but analysts said they reflected Europe’s willingness to build bridges with Washington by taking a tougher stance on Beijing, but without shutting out China entirely. The vote sends “a signal that there’s an emerging consensus in Europe that stronger pushback against China on the economic front is needed,” said Noah Barkin, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who specializes in Europe’s relationship with China. Still, the decision exposed the divisions among E.U. member states over how they should handle the issue with China. Five countries voted to block the tariffs, while 12 abstained. The tariffs, which take effect on Oct. 31 and will last for five years, go as high as 45 percent. But both European and Chinese officials have said they remain in negotiations to reach an agreement that would address Brussels’s concerns about unfair advantages enjoyed by automakers in China. “The E.U. and China continue to work hard to explore an alternative solution,” the European Commission said in a statement on Friday, adding that any deal would have to be within the rules set by the World Trade Organization. The vote stems from an investigation that the commission started last year into government subsidies given to electric vehicles made in China, part of a broader push against what the commission describes as anti-competitive behavior from China that has hurt European businesses. The tariffs were calculated by the level of state support that Chinese automakers received from Beijing. The highest duties are being imposed on manufacturers that disclosed little about their subsidies, while Tesla, which has a large factory in Shanghai, was hit with the lowest because it negotiated with investigators. China, which had lobbied individual countries to reject the tariffs, on Friday criticized the vote and called for the European Commission to postpone the duties while negotiations between the two sides continued. China is the European Union’s second most important trading partner, after the United States. Last year, the two traded goods worth 739 billion euros, or $811 billion. China’s commerce ministry said the move represented “unfair, noncompliant and unreasonable protectionist practices.” And the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said the lower prices of Chinese electric vehicles stemmed not from subsidies, but from a supply chain that had developed through fierce market competition inside the country. Talks will continue between Chinese and E.U. officials on Monday, a ministry spokesman said in the statement. He added a thinly veiled threat of retaliation if the tariffs were enacted, saying that China would “take all measures to firmly safeguard the interests of Chinese companies.” China has already started investigations against subsidies on European goods, including dairy, brandy, pork and luxury cars. European officials have said the tariffs could be paused or even ended should they reach an agreement with the Chinese that addresses their concerns about unfair advantages. The Biden administration has voiced concerns that internet-connected Chinese cars and trucks pose a national security risk because their operating systems could send sensitive information to Beijing, but Europeans are more concerned about protecting their automotive industry. Last year, that industry provided 13.8 million jobs and accounted for 7 percent of the region’s economic output. In Germany, which voted against the tariffs, automakers and the government are concerned that the move could set off a trade war with China. Germany’s three biggest automakers, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, are all heavily invested in China. The decision by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany to vote “no” reflected the pressure that he faced from the country’s leading autoworkers union, as well as from industry leaders, who warned that increased duties could harm competition at a time when overall demand for cars, including electric vehicles, in Europe was shrinking and production costs in Germany remained stubbornly high. “It is the right signal from the German government, which — with a view to the economy, prosperity and growth — has backed the interests of the European and German automotive industry and its employees on such an important issue,” said Hildegard Müller, the president of the German Automobile Association. Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia also voted against the tariffs. The European Union faces a shrinking share of the global economy and is lagging far behind the United States and China. A report published last month by Mario Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank, found that Europe needed to prioritize protecting its automotive plants and companies from state-subsidized foreign producers. Tariffs would “help level the playing field” while keeping Europe open to benefiting from productivity gains from China, according to the report, which was the result of a yearlong study requested by the European Commission on the causes of Europe’s competitiveness crisis. Twelve E.U. countries abstained from the vote, including Austria, Sweden and Spain, according to a European diplomat. Carlos Cuerpo, Spain’s economy minister, in a letter sent on Thursday to Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s trade commissioner, called on the commission to continue negotiations with China. He wrote that the European Union needed to protect its automotive industry while avoiding an escalation of tensions with major trading partners like China, according to a European official who had seen a copy of the letter. Others argue the tariffs will encourage the Chinese companies to shift their production to Europe, creating jobs and bringing their expertise to the continent. Two Chinese companies, Chery and Leapmotor, have already set up joint ventures with automakers in Europe, and BYD, China’s leading automaker, is building its first factory in Europe. But leaning too heavily on China to help prop up European industrial production could prove counterproductive in the long run, said Janka Oertel, the director of Asia for the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Reindustrializing with the help of Chinese companies may seem like an easy fix to some in Rome or Madrid, but would further enhance dependence on Beijing and ability to strong-arm the European political process,” she said.
