French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his support for EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, during a visit to Berlin on Wednesday.
Macron had earlier met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose government fears a trade war with China that could hurt Germany’s crucial auto sector.
Brussels plans to levy additional duties of up to 36 percent on electric vehicles imported from China, with member states expected to vote on the issue on Friday.
The European Commission announced the tariffs in July, following the conclusion of an anti-subsidy probe which found China was dolling out unfair state aid to carmakers.
“I do support the European Commission on that,” Macron said when questioned about the issue at the Berlin Global Dialogue event.
European manufacturers had to “compete with some carmakers producing in China with an existing advantage”, Macron said.
The Chinese subsidies introduced a “bias” into the market, Macron said.
If a level playing field was not reestablished with Chinese manufacturers in this area, he warned that this could imperil hopes to “produce and preserve your industrial footprint in Europe”.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Scholz pleaded to keep an open dialogue with China over the issue of electric cars.
“We have to protect our economy from unfair trade practices,” Scholz said in a speech at the German Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade, Services.
Scholz also echoed the need for a level playing field but said that the EU’s response “must not lead to us harming ourselves”.
“That is why negotiations with Beijing on electric vehicles must continue,” Scholz said, adding that action was needed where China was “actually damaging our economy, such as steel”.
Germany’s all-important auto manufacturers have come out in force against the EU tariffs, for fear of retaliation from China that could hurt sales in the key Asian market.
Speaking at the same event as Macron in Berlin, the head of Mercedes-Benz, Ola Kallenius, said tariffs were a “crude instrument”.
And BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said in a statement that the German government should “vote against the introduction of additional tariffs”.
Import taxes “harm globally active companies in this country and could provoke a trade dispute from which no one gains”, Zipse said.
