(Source: People's Daily 2024-06-25)

Lu Yue

Recently, the European Commission announced that it plans to impose temporary countervailing duties ranging from 17.4% to 38.1% on the basis of the current 10% tariff starting from July this year. Trying to protect the development of the local automobile industry by imposing tariffs is a typical trade protectionist behavior, which violates the most-favored-nation treatment principle of the World Trade Organization and damages the legitimate rights and interests of China's electric vehicle industry. It is not only unfavorable to the positive development of the electric vehicle industry around the world, but also damages economic globalization and may hinder the global green and low-carbon transformation process.

Protectionism is bound to trigger a chain reaction. Temporary EU tariffs will hinder China's electric vehicles from entering the European market.

The healthy competition and good transmission mechanism in the market are conducive to promoting the overall sustainable development of the industry. China's new energy vehicle market is huge, and its technology iteration is rapid and efficient.

The EU's attempt to exclude Chinese companies and cost-effective new energy products from the market through tariff barriers will inevitably push up the prices of global new energy products, and will directly weaken European consumers' purchasing power for electric vehicles, curb market demand, and slow down industry growth. The chain effect that may be triggered will further weaken the EU's international commitment to respecting rules and advocating free trade, and will hit global investors' confidence, leading to a decline in competitiveness in the European market, which will undoubtedly harm others and be unfavorable to oneself.

Not only that, this measure will also hinder the global low-carbon transformation process. Electric vehicles are an important tool to reduce carbon emissions. Combined with market supply and demand, the current global production capacity of new energy vehicles is far from meeting market demand, and China's new energy vehicles can make greater contributions to promoting the global green and low-carbon transformation.

At present, the global development of new energy vehicles is prominent, and many emerging market countries are facing problems such as weak promotion foundation and insufficient industrial and technical capabilities. In response to the above problems, win-win cooperation is the correct choice for promoting the development of the electric vehicle industry. To achieve win-win cooperation, we need to uphold the concept of openness and inclusiveness, build consensus and enhance confidence for global economic and trade development.

(The author is a professor at the National Institute of Opening-up at the w88 online casino betting of International Business and Economics and Executive Dean of the Institute of Global Innovation and Governance)

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