China and Europe’s auto manufacturing industry, the urgent need to construct a new common interests.
“The EU’s vote did not take into account (China’s possible launch of) punitive tariffs! Can not start a trade war, (disputes) need to be resolved through negotiations.”
Local time on October 4, just as the representatives of the EU member states voted to adopt the draft final ruling submitted by the European Commission on the EU’s countervailing case on electric vehicles, German Finance Minister Christian • Lindner in his X homepage, released the above tweet.
On the same day, the so-called “anti-dumping” investigation that lasted nearly a year of European exports of electric cars from China, after repeated efforts by all parties, still can not be avoided in the European Parliament to obtain a majority.
Who is in favor, who is against
According to the EU’s framework rules on foreign trade, votes on whether a country’s goods are subsidized or not are based on a population proportionality model. That is, the voting countries based on the proportion of the population to determine the final outcome of the vote, in favor of or against the total population of any party to reach 65% of the population of the European Union, will be judged to pass.
So what was the final result of the October 4 vote?
The tariff measures in favor of a total of ten countries, respectively, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Bulgaria and Poland, as well as the so-called Baltic three countries of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia. The total population of these countries accounts for 45.99% of the EU.
The five countries that voted against are Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. Their population share is 22.65% of the total EU population.
That leaves the twelve countries that abstained – Spain, Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Greece, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden, and Finland – whose populations make up 31.36% of the total EU population.
One of the most noteworthy is that in the advisory vote in July this year, Spain had voted down in favor of the vote, but in the final vote on October 4 changed to abstain. Especially Spain’s current Prime Minister Sanchez just recently visited China, its public opposition to the tariffs on China.
And vote against Slovenia and Germany, in July had abstained from voting, but ultimately turned against.
Who suffers, who benefits
Voted against the country, a considerable part of the count is in the European Union and China sing the old face, as well as similar to the three Baltic States and Poland, such as the United States agent nature of the existence. It is worth mentioning France and Italy, two countries with large populations and considerable industrial and economic strength.
Both France and Italy have their own automobile manufacturing industries, and both have joint-venture factories in China. Similarly, in the “joint venture tide” swept by the Chinese market can not continue to establish a foothold. Among them, Fiat has withdrawn from China as early as 2018. As for French cars, the market will shrink completely after 2019.
France can be said to be the direct initiator of this round of EU suppression of the Chinese auto industry.
China and France used to have common interests in the automobile industry. But when the French car companies in the Chinese market defeat, French cars in the domestic market has been others in the existence of others, but also at a time when the French economy is facing a post-new crown period of major adjustments in the critical period, for recent years has been trying to create and maintain their own country and even Europe’s economic image of the tough guy Macron and his government, to take the “Chinese electric car “Open knife is not something unexpected.
As for Italy, the problem is similar – since the interests once bound together have disappeared, and there is a trend of new energy vehicles from China sweeping the European market, so for Italian politicians, the trend of stepping on a Chinese car companies naturally is not inevitable behavior.
In the vote against the five countries, excluding Slovenia, Malta and other countries with consistently good relations, Germany’s reason is self-evident. Because no matter what position the former trampoline player or a doctor of philosophy holds, the national capital, especially car companies, after all, in China is involved in the interests of too deep and too wide.
However, from another point of view, in the current German car in the Chinese market is becoming increasingly difficult to see, if you can stop the Chinese-made new energy vehicles to Europe, the German automakers to stabilize the European fundamentals, there is also a practical benefit. In particular, another rival from the United States, Tesla, its cars produced in China will also enjoy the tax increase treatment.