Brussels announces investigation against China for illegal aid to electric car production

The head of trade will travel to China next week

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Wednesday that she will launch an investigation against China for the illegal aid it grants to the production of electric vehicles, as she considers it an "unfair practice" that distorts the automotive market. European Union.

The program to which Von der Leyen has referred grants tax exemptions to consumers who purchase electric vehicles until 2027 and has an estimated value of 72.3 billion dollars.

"It is a crucial industry for the clean economy, with enormous potential for Europe, but global markets are flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars," while their price "is kept artificially low thanks to huge state subsidies," Von explained. der Leyen in his first intervention in the Debate on the State of the Union (SOTEU) held in the plenary session in Strasbourg (France).

The German leader has warned that this "is distorting the market" and recalled that "Europe is open to competition" but "not for a race to the bottom", as she highlighted that the EU's 'clean' industry is ready to be competitive.

However, while encouraging Europe to be protected from "unfair practices", he pointed out that it is "vital" to keep the lines of communication and dialogue with China open because there are also issues on which both actors "can and should cooperate." .

With this objective, the economic vice-president of the Commission and head of Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, will travel to China next week to talk about commercial and economic opportunities and challenges, as announced through his profile on the social network ).

"Competition is only true as long as it is fair," he stressed, although "too often" European companies are excluded from foreign markets or are victims of "predatory" practices, as he has not forgotten how China's unfair trade practices affected the EU solar industry.

However, he has reiterated his motto of "reducing risks, but without dissociating", an approach that he will also take to the leaders at this year's EU-China summit.