China asks WTO to set up panel to settle US e-vehicle subsidies dispute
BEIJING: China has requested the World Trade Organization to set up an expert panel to help settle a dispute over electric vehicles subsidies under the US Inflation Reduction Act, the country’s commerce ministry said on Monday.
SANTA MONICA, US: Tesla electric vehicles charge on EV charging stations beneath solar panels at a Tesla Supercharger location in Santa Monica, California. – AFP.
The world’s No 2 economy opened the WTO dispute in late March after the Biden administration passed the IRA, a wide-ranging law that provides billions of dollars in tax credits to help consumers buy EVs and firms to produce renewable energy, as the White House looks to decarbonize the US power sector.
China has failed to reach a solution with the US through consultations that would safeguard the rights and interests of its EV industry, the ministry said in its statement, and so is advancing its case at the WTO. The IRA “excludes products from WTO members such as China, artificially sets trade barriers, and pushes up the costs of green energy transition”, China’s commerce ministry said.
“We urge the US to abide by WTO rules and stop abusing its industrial policies to undermine international cooperation on climate change,” China said.
Meanwhile, Italy and Spain are backing European Union tariffs on imports of China-built electric vehicles, government sources said ahead of a Monday midnight deadline for all 27 EU members to take their stand on the matter. The vote is non-binding, but it could influence the final conclusion of the European Commission, which oversees the bloc’s trade policy. It set provisional duties of up to 37.6 percent on EVs imported from China, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.
The EU executive is canvassing EU governments’ views in an “advisory” vote, which the Commission is expected to take into account when deciding whether to follow up with definitive duties in what is the EU’s highest profile trade case yet. Government sources said on Monday that Italy had voted in favor and that Spain would do the same in their written submissions. Poland’s development ministry said Warsaw’s position was still the subject of consultations between ministries. Germany is set to abstain, sources said on Friday. Greece had yet to take a position as of Saturday.
A decade ago, the EU executive did not impose tariffs on Chinese solar panels after it became clear that a large group of EU members did not support them. EU manufacturing subsequently collapsed.
The Commission will continue its investigation and determine whether to propose definitive duties that would typically apply for five years. If it does push for tariffs, they will come up for a binding vote among the EU members, and would be blocked if a qualified majority of 15 member countries representing 65 percent of the EU population vote against. — Reuters.
