BYD electric cars waiting to be loaded onto a ship are seen stacked at the international container terminal of Taicang Port in Suzhou, in eastern Jiangsu province February 8, 2024. — AFP picBEIJING, June 13 — China said today it “reserves the right” to file a suit with the World Trade Organisation over planned new EU tariffs on imports of its electric vehicles.
“China reserves the right to file a suit to the WTO and take all necessary measures to resolutely defend the rights and interests of Chinese companies,” Beijing’s commerce ministry spokesman He Yadong told a briefing.“This action not only harms the legal rights and interests of the Chinese electric vehicle industry... but will also distort auto production and supply chains around the world, including in the European Union,” He said.
The tariffs will apply provisionally from July 4 and then definitively from November unless there is a qualified majority of EU states — 15 countries representing at least 65 per cent of the bloc’s population — voting against the move.