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China has agreed to open talks with the EU over its decision to impose higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports during a visit by the German vice chancellor to Beijing aimed at easing tensions.
Robert Habeck, the minister for economic affairs and climate action, welcomed China’s move to open talks with Brussels on EU tariffs, but said it was “a first step and many more will be needed”.
His comments came after China’s commerce ministry said Beijing and Brussels had agreed to start consultations over an anti-subsidy investigation launched by the EU last year. The investigation led to a decision this month to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to up to 48 percent.
The announcement followed a video conference between Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao and EU Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
Germany has criticized the EU’s decision to raise tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars, and Habeck is the first senior European politician to visit the country since the extraordinary tariffs were announced.
The Chinese market is very important to Germany’s vast auto industry, making Berlin particularly vulnerable to any retaliation from Beijing, which has already announced its own anti-dumping investigation into EU pork products.
While Habeck struck a conciliatory tone about the yet-to-be-finalized tariffs, he criticized China’s growing exports to Russia and cited German efforts to stop exports of “dual-use” goods with potential military applications.
“I looked at the trade numbers and China’s trade with Russia grew by more than 40 percent last year,” he said. “Of course, energy plays a big role [of] but about half of that is related to dual-use goods.”
“This is technically a commodity that can be used on the battlefield, and that has to stop,” he said.
China is one of Germany’s biggest trading partners, and Berlin has sought to carefully manage rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, which spiked after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Habeck also visited Beijing, where he met with Wang Wentao and Zheng Shenjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission. He said they spoke with Chinese officials on energy and climate issues, as well as human rights, as part of “intensive discussions”. The expected meeting with Premier Li Qiang did not take place.
On Sunday, Germany’s vice chancellor said China should find a safe alternative to coal after the country increased production of the carbon-intensive fuel source. “Without China, it would be impossible to achieve global climate goals,” he said during a visit to Hangzhou, according to a Reuters report.
President Joe Biden this year imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, higher than the EU, although the US imports much smaller volumes.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, met with President Xi Jinping in April and urged the Chinese president to pressure Russia to end its campaign in Ukraine. Scholz also asked Li for greater market access for German companies on the mainland.
Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have trumpeted their close relationship and vowed to increase trade. Russia became China’s fifth-largest single-country trading partner last year, up from ninth in 2020, when trade reached $240 billion. Chinese exports to Russia increased by 46.9 percent year-on-year in 2023, according to official data.