CEOE Aragón reacts to tariffs on Chinese electric cars: “It is the easy measure”

Brussels approved on Friday the definitive imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric cars, which it had already provisionally decided on last July pending the pronouncement of the Member States. Spain has been one of the countries in the European Union that has shown itself most in favour of delaying the application of this measure until reaching a joint agreement and has abstained from voting.

The extra tariffs will be added to the 10% already applied to the import of these products into Asia. Thus, as far as the main manufacturers are concerned, they translate into 17.4% for the purchase of the BYD brand, 19.9% ​​for Geely and 37.6% for SAIC. The European Commission has reiterated that it will continue to work with the Chinese authorities  to seek “an agreement that respects international trade rules and fair state subsidies.”

The first reactions in Aragon have not been long in coming, with the automotive industry being one of the region’s strong points. Aragonese businessmen have expressed concern, stating that it will not be an effective long-term measure , although it may give the European industry room to react. CEOE has pointed out the need to “bet on production in Europe” and set up battery factories “to be able to be competitive” with the Asian giant.

CEOE COMMITS TO GAINING COMPETITIVENESS BY MANUFACTURING VEHICLES AND BATTERIES IN EUROPEAN TERRITORY

Specifically, its president, Miguel Marzo, has pointed out that tariffs are “an easy measure” and that “they will only work in a short period of time.” “Maybe they will solve the problem for us for one or two years, but they will not make our lives better. So, instead of thinking about taking the easy way out, we are going to see how we can solve the problem of our manufacturers, our suppliers and how we can be competitive,” he stressed.

A line that was also expressed by the president of the CEOE Aragón Think-Thank forum and former vice president of Production at Opel, Antonio Cobo. “It seems logical that tariffs should be imposed to give the industry time to wake up and react, but what we have to find is a way to do it here ,” he said.

Breaking it down, Cobo pointed out that the Chinese electric car is between 25% and 30% cheaper than those manufactured in Europe, mainly due to the country’s own capacity to manufacture vehicles and batteries. ” Now Europe is waking up, after 20 years of shouting and realising that we do not have the technology. We do not manufacture batteries competitively,” he said.

He has thus seen the possibility of the Chinese company CATL joining forces with Stellantis to obtain the gigafactory in Figueruelas, which is awaiting Perte VEC III, as positive. “It is something positive and the fact that it is located in Zaragoza is even more so. Having battery factories is anchoring the industry , because countries that do not have them will lose vehicle assembly plants as the logistics costs are very high,” he concluded.

SPAIN AND ARAGON, AWAIT CHINA’S DECISION ON PORK

Now that Europe has given the green light to this measure, it remains to be seen whether the threat made by China to impose tariffs on pork will also be effective, which puts Spain and Aragon in the centre of the target due to the volume of exports. However, precisely from the CEOE Aragon Internalisation Commission, they appeared “calm” in their last meeting due to the diversification of the market in this sense, which has allowed the Asian country to “lose weight”.

In figures, Aragonese pork exports to the Asian country accounted for 1.8% of the total in 2023 and, analysing the destinations of the meat sector, it is positioned as the first with more than 14% followed by Italy (13.9%) and Japan (6.9%). However, the volume has been declining in recent years. In 2020, at the height of the swine fever, Aragon’s meat exports to China reached 777 million, while in 2023 they fell to 321 million.

The possible imposition of these tariffs on pork will be one of the issues that the President of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, will raise with Pedro Sánchez in their bilateral meeting next Friday in Moncloa.