Europe wants affordable electric vehicles from China. But not at the cost of its own auto industry

By DAVID McHUGH and KELVIN CHAN
AP Business Writers

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Union is moving to hike tariffs on electric vehicles made in China. EVs are the latest flash point in a broader trade dispute over Chinese government subsidies and the Asian nation’s burgeoning exports of green technology to the 27-nation bloc. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said on Wednesday that preliminary results from an ongoing investigation into Chinese EV subsidies show the country’s battery electric vehicle “value chain” benefits from “unfair subsidization” that hurts EU rivals. On July 4, it plans to impose provisional import taxes of up to 38.1%, on electric vehicles from China. That’s on top of the 10% duties for all imported EVs.