OREANDA-NEWS The European Commission, following the results of the ongoing investigation into state subsidies for electric vehicles supplied to the EU from China, may impose duties on such imports, EC representative Olof Gill said at a briefing in Brussels.

"To protect the interests of the EU, anti-subsidy duties may be imposed on imports of cars with electric batteries from China," he said.

According to the EC representative, the investigation will be conducted "in strict accordance with European and international procedures, all interested parties, including the Chinese authorities and exporting companies, will be given the opportunity to submit their comments on the situation, evidence and arguments."

Earlier, the European Commission announced that it had officially launched an investigation into the situation with state subsidies for electric vehicles supplied to the EU from China, which, according to Brussels, could damage European industry.

Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao said Beijing is concerned about the EU's decision to investigate Chinese electric vehicles and that this is an act of trade protectionism. He stressed that the rapid development of electric vehicles in China is based on innovations in research and development, free competition and a full-fledged industrial system.
In turn, the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, who is also responsible for competition issues, spoke about the fears of the European Commission due to the fact that China will allegedly flood the European market with cheaper electric cars, thanks to state support. According to him, a similar situation occurred with solar panels produced in China, which flooded the European market.

Earlier, the European Commission proposed to actually abandon cars with gasoline and diesel engines on the territory of the European Union by 2035 and launch vehicles with zero harmful emissions exclusively on the market. This provision provides for the transition to electric vehicles with an exception for cars using carbon-neutral synthetic fuel. In parallel, the European Commission proposes to develop infrastructure for electric vehicles, in particular, a network of charging stations. At the same time, concerns were expressed in the European Union that the local industry would not be able to establish production in sufficient volumes of batteries due to lack of resources.