FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The chief executive of German carmaker Volkswagen (ETR:) said the European Union should consider adjusting planned tariffs against electric vehicles made in China to take into account investments made in Europe.
“Instead of punitive tariffs, it should be about giving mutual credit for investments. Those who invest, create jobs and work with local companies should benefit in terms of tariffs,” VW CEO Oliver Blume said in an interview with the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
The European Union will press ahead with tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, the EU executive said on Friday, even after Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, and German carmakers rejected them, exposing a gap in around its biggest trade dispute with Beijing in a decade.
Proposed tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles of up to 45% would cost automakers billions of additional dollars to introduce cars to the bloc and will be imposed starting next month for five years.
The Commission, which oversees the bloc’s trade policy, has said it will counter what it sees as unfair Chinese subsidies after a year-long anti-subsidy probe, but also said on Friday it would continue talks with Beijing.
VW’s Blume told Bild am Sonntag there was a risk that China’s retaliatory tariffs would hurt European carmakers.