German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he expects negotiations with China to settle a dispute over the EU’s threatened punitive tariffs on imported Chinese electric cars.
“Of course we have to protect our economy from unfair trade practices,” Scholz said on Wednesday at a conference organized by the BGA foreign trade association in Berlin.
“However, our reaction as the EU must not lead to us damaging ourselves. That is why the negotiations with China on electric vehicles must continue.”
Scholz went on to say that action must be taken where cheap Chinese imports were actually harming the economy, for example in the case of steel.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) and its principles must be shown greater respect, Scholz said. If the WTO could exert its jurisdiction to settle trade disputes, there would be less need for tariff disputes.
The jurisdiction for settling trade disputes must function again, then there would be less need for customs disputes, he added. China should renounce the special treatment it enjoys as a developing country.
The vote at EU level on the car tariffs is scheduled for Friday. Talks are currently under way to decide how the German government will vote.
