Hungarian investment promotion agency HIPA slams EU’s punitive tariffs on Chinese e-cars

Car buyers “stand to lose the most” as a result of the European Union’s punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, the head of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) said in a post on social media on Thursday.

István Joó said the measure didn’t serve to protect the interests of the European automotive industry “by a long shot”, pointing to partnerships between Chinese suppliers and companies such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz as well as those companies’ own manufacturing capacity in China.

The biggest German automotive industry companies take the position that the tariffs hinder global competitiveness and damage supply chains, he added.

He noted that Oliver Zipse, BMW’s CEO, had warned that the tariffs were a “fatal signal” for global trade and could lead to retaliation by China, while Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume had said the car maker would face “significant disadvantages” in the Chinese market as a result of the measure. He added that Ola Kallenius, who heads Mercedes-Benz, had said it was a “complete illusion” to think the automotive world could be divided into regions that have nothing to do with each other.

“The future of mobility in Europe lies in innovation and cooperation, not in tariffs,” Joó said.

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