Letters | A green cold war with China won’t help Europe and the climate

Readers discuss the impact of Europe’s tariffs on Chinese EVs, and better solutions to Hong Kong’s ageing problem

Reading Time:3 minutes

New Chinese EVs are parked at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on October 24. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:30am, 19 Nov 2024

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China and the European Union are inching towards a trade war as they lock horns over tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Having failed to find a diplomatic solution, the European Commission announced it would impose duties on imports of unfairly subsidised EVs from China.

In announcing the duties, European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis spoke of the EU’s “open, fair and rules-based trade”. However, by putting up barriers to China’s green technology, Brussels risks damaging Europe’s economy, weakening its fight against climate change and harming its population.

That is because while these tariffs would shut out foreign competition, they would also saddle consumers with additional costs and undermine the bloc’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. In addition, they could draw retaliation from China, hurting EU exporters and raising the risk of a far-reaching trade conflict.

The uneven duties on EVs on top of the standard 10 per cent import duty have been described as “measured”. Such analysis ignores the impacts of these measures on the battle against climate change.

The European Commission’s announcement cited unfair subsidies as justification for imposing duties on Chinese EVs. While subsidies have played an important role in China’s EV development, other contributing factors include fierce domestic competition and technological innovation. Meanwhile, given China’s leading role upstream in the supply chain, battery production in China is also more integrated than in the United States and Europe.

Seeing China’s climate contributions solely through a geopolitical lens cannot take credit away from how its development of a robust EV industry has bolstered the world’s hopes of achieving a clean energy transition.