Hungarian foreign minister talks about EU punitive tariffs against Chinese e-cars

The European Commission’s punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles are “another blow to the continent’s competitiveness”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Thursday.

The measure serves the interest of neither European countries nor businesses, Szijjártó said in a post on social media. He added that the European Union’s executive, led by Ursula von der Leyen, had “disregarded” the positions of member states and big European businesses with the step.

He noted that just ten of the 27 EU member states had backed the measure, while European automotive industry companies had fought it “tooth and nail”. “The success of Europe’s electromobility strategy is difficult to imagine without cooperation with Chinese suppliers,” he added.

He pinned the blame on the EC president for putting Europe “in a war it will lose”, while reducing the weight of the EU in the global economy and in global politics.

The EC on Wednesday imposed countervailing duties on imports of EVs from China for a period of five years. The duties are in force from Thursday.

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