Senior Chinese official to visit EU days after electric vehicle tariffs raise trade war risk
- Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang will travel to Brussels next week as Beijing pledges to ‘deepen’ cooperation on the environment.
China’s first ranking Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang will visit the European Union next week to “deepen” the “green partnership” with the bloc amid the growing threat of a trade war after China-made electric vehicles were hit with higher tariffs.
Ding, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee who ranks as No. 6 in the Communist Party’s hierarchy, will visit Brussels and Luxembourg on a five-day visit starting on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“China stands ready to work with the EU … to broaden the areas of cooperation, explore new collaboration models. We hope to deepen and solidify our green partnership and make green the most distinctive colour of China-EU cooperation,” the ministry’s spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday.
“China and the EU share extensive common interests and a broad space for cooperation in green development and have maintained good dialogue and cooperation.”
Beijing vowed to hit back after the European Commission said on Wednesday it would impose extra duties ranging from 17.4 per cent to 38.1 per cent on imported EVs made in China from July 4.
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Chinese-made electric vehicles face additional EU import tariffs of up to 38%
The EU is also conducting anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese solar panel and wind turbine manufacturers.
