TMTPost -- The latest vote showcases there is a wide divergence of whether to sharply hike Chinese electric vehicle (EV) tariffs among the European countries.

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

A dozen of the European Union member states voted for the tariffs on EV imports from China, four voted against and 11 abstained, Reurters reported, citing sources with knowledge of a so-called advisory vote earlier this week. In the non-binding but still influential vote, three of four largest EU economies--France, Italy and Spain supported the tariffs, while Germany, the top economy of the bloc, Finland and Sweden abstained, according to the sources.

The European Commission, which oversees the EU’s trade policy, is expected to take the vote into account when it decides whether to push ahead with the current provisional tariffs with definitive duties, the report noted. If the executive arm of the EU determines to advocate the duties following its investigation into Chinese subsidies in EV sector, it will initiate a binding vote among the EU countries and will not impose unless a qualified majority of 15 member states representing 65% of the EU population vote for. The report said definitive duties, , typically applicable for five years, would come into force if the voting pattern of the advisory vote were repeated.

A Bloomberg report echoed results of the non-binding vote, quoting sources that a number of counties including Germany abstained and adding some of them planned to form a firmer position at a later date. The provisional duties will be issued as “guarantees” and be collected only if final duties are imposed by November, the report said.

The European Commission announced on July 4 it imposed provisional countervailing duties of up to 37.6%, on top of the ordinary BEV import duty of 10%, on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China. The Commission concluded through an anti-subsidy investigation that the BEV valu

According to a statement of the European Commission, other BEV producers in China, which cooperated in the investigation but have not been sampled, are subject to the 20.8% weighted average duty, marginally downgraded from the commission’s original proposed 21%, while all other Be chain in China benefits from unfair subsidization, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.

Specifically, the additional individual duties on three sampled Chinese EV makers, would be 17.4% for BYD, 19.9% for Geely and 37.6% for SAIC. That means the EU decided to levy a little bit less duties on Geely and SAIC-made EVs since its proposed rates pre-disclosed on June 12 are 20% and 38.1%, respectively, while BYD, China’s largest EV manufacturer, faces the same tariff rate as EU’s original proposal disclosed more than a month ago.

The European Commission suggested the long-term definitive duties will be effective no later than four months ago, if approved by EU countries. All the abovementioned provisional duties are applied for a maximum duration of four months starting from July 5. Within the four-month timeframe, a final decision must be taken on definitive duties, through a vote by EU Member States, and when adopted, this decision would make the duties definitive for a period of five years, the Commission said.

Talks between China and the EU are underway. The Commission will continue its investigation for another three months. The reported division of opinion this week highlights obstacles to putting up barriers on Chinese EVs within the bloc, the Chinese state-backed newspaper Global Times cited experts. The experts also called on the EU to take into account different opinions among member states and to find a balance of interests in negotiations with China over the ongoing tariff dispute, according to the newspaper.

China has threatened to hit back with anti-dumping measures against EU pork and dairy imports amid EV tariff threat. The Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM)  opened an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork and pig by-products imported from the EU from June 17. If the EU’s dumping practice has been confirmed after China’s preliminary investigation and has caused damage to Chinese domestic industries, temporary anti-dumping measures might be taken in accordance with WTO rules and China's anti-dumping regulations, the MOFCOM spokesperson He Yadong responded a question about whether China will levy temporary tariffs on pork imports from the EU last month.

When asked about whether China will open anti-dumping probe on EU dairy imports, the spokesperson He said that the investigation agency will review applications filed by domestic industries in accordance with the law. "If the conditions for filing a case are met, the investigation agency will start the filing procedure, and disclose and release announcements in accordance with the law," said He.