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TMTPost-- Heads of European auto giants and Tesla Inc. boss expressed their opposition to new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized the latest levies for its distortion of the auto market. “Neither Tesla nor I asked for these tariffs, in fact, I was surprised when they were announced.Things that inhibit freedom of exchange or distort the market are not good,” Musk said at Viva Technology, a Paris tech conference. The remark on Thursday mark a U-turn since Musk in January called for trade barriers, claiming that without such tools, China would demolish most other auto companies in the world.

Musk’s European rivals are also frowned upon the tariffs. Europe's car giants won't have much time to restructure their operations and product lines to compete with emerging Chinese competitors, and stiffer tariffs will do little to protect the status quo, Reuters cited industry executives at a Reuters Events Automotive Europe conference in Munich this week. "And the window is closing. From my point of view, we have two or three years. If we are not fast...it will be really tough (for German industry) to survive," said Thomas Schmall, a board member at Volkswagen, the biggest European car manufacturer by sales.

Stellantis NVCEO Carlos Tavares called tariffs on Chinese cars imported to U.S. and Europe “a major trap on the countries that go on the path”, which will not allow Western automakers to avoid restructuring to meet the challenge from lower cost Chinese manufacturers.Head of Europe’s second largest automaker warned that such levies will not would only fuel inflation in the regions where they are imposed, potentially impacting sales and production.

European auto sector is right in Darwinian period and the price competition with Asian rivals would be very tough, either for dealers, suppliers or the OEMs, Tavares said at the same event in Munich on Wednesday. He noted Chinese auto companies are on the track to sell 1.5 million vehicles in Europe, equivalent to a 10% market share and up to 10 assembly plants worth of production.

More than two weeks ago, BMW Group chairman and CEO Oliver Zipse warned that getting into a tit-for-tat trade war would “harm German industry much more than the other way around”. "You could very quickly shoot yourself in the foot," Zipse said after his company reported quarterly results. He insisted that Europe’s currently being swamped with Chinese products is certainly not true, and European car makers already had good market access in China. He said BMW was against introducing customs duties and warned: “Doing anything like that on a permanent basis, it will harm the German industry much more than the other way around.”

The Western automaking business leaders expressed their concerns on tariffs as the U.S. just hiked tariffs on Chinese imports in key sectors’including EVs, and the European Union could follow suit next month. Brussels’final decision will be unveiled in less than two weeks for it will inform those Chinese EV makers incurring provisional tariffs by June 5.

The White House announced on May 12 that U.S. PresidentJoeBiden directed his Trade Representative to increase tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on $18 billion of Chinese imports in order toprotect American workers and American companies from China’s unfair trade practices.The Biden administration will sharply ratchet up tariffs on semiconductors, EVs,EV batteries, battery parts, solar cells and steel and aluminum, and impose new tariffs on cranes and medical products. The tariff rate on EVs under Section 301 will increase to 100% in 2024, quadrupling the current tariff of 25%.

The EU officially launched an investigation into EVs from China on October 4 2023.The European Commission is set to decide whether to impose tariffs more than the current 10% standard rate for cars within13 monthsonce the investigation started. The possible tariff will affect not just Chinese automakers but also foreign brands that produce vehicles there such as Tesla, Renault and BMW. The probe may result in tariffs close to the 27.5% level already imposed by the U.S. on Chinese EVs, Bloomberg reported last September.

The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyenan suggested earlier this week she would diverge from the U.S. on tariffs. “We share some of the concerns of our [US] counterparts but we have a different approach威斯尼斯人娱乐官方网站游戏玩法, a much more tailored approach,” von der Leyen said on Tuesday. Head of the EU’s main executive body stressed should a months-long EU investigation be confirmed Chinese subsidies exist, she can guarantee the level of the duties EU would impose is correspondent to the level of damage.

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