The European Commission is considering reducing tariffs on MINI and Cupra Tavascan electric cars imported into the continent from China. Both cars automatically received the maximum tariff of 37.6 percent, but this could be reduced to 20.8 percent if BMW and Volkswagen Group reclassify the subsidies as those cooperating with the EU.
Some German automakers, including BMW, do not support the tariffs because of concerns that China “could retaliate.”
BMW's new electric MINI and Cupra Tavascan are produced in factories in China and are subject to the maximum tariff of 37.6 percent since the new rules came into force at the beginning of July. But a Reuters source claimsthat the European Commission is ready to almost halve the tariff – to 20.8 percent – for both cars.
Reuters sources say that EU officials are ready to reclassify electric cars from European brands and recognize them as “parties of cooperation”, which will reduce their tariffs to 20.8 percent.
Ironically, BMW is one of the German car brands that has spoken out against the tariffs, and not because they make it more expensive to import its own Chinese cars into Europe. More worryingly, China could retaliate by making Europe's lucrative exports to the country much less profitable. Collectively, German automakers generated more than a third of their total sales in China last year.