The European Commission is considering imposing duties on Chinese hybrid vehicles, an official in EU industry chief Stéphane Séjourné’s office confirmed to Euractiv on Thursday.
The move – which is still being debated by the EU executive – would extend the bloc’s current levies of up to 35.3% on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) to cars with both a combustion engine and a battery.
The EV tariffs, which the Commission argues are necessary to combat unfair Chinese subsidies, have enraged Beijing and exacerbated already frayed ties between the EU and the world’s second-largest economy.
The official told Euractiv that the French Commissioner has “raised the question of Chinese hybrid vehicles at numerous occasions”.
“His cabinet is raising the issue of why what is valid for EVs, is not for hybrid vehicles, that are produced in the same conditions and whose European competitors need the same protection and level-playing field.”
The move comes amid a surge of Chinese hybrid vehicle exports to the EU over the past year.
This is a developing story.
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(jp)