China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Aug. 9 that they have “initiated dispute settlement proceedings against the EU’s provisional anti-subsidy measures against Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) at the WTO,” according to Global Times. They argue that the findings in the EU’s preliminary ruling “lack factual and legal basis, seriously violate WTO rules, and jeopardize the overall situation of global cooperation in addressing climate change.”
Global Times notes that there is opposition to the tariff plan within the EU: “China’s move comes after a Financial Times report on Aug. 5 said that Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Trade, said EU member states are likely to support the the interests of some member countries, such as major auto producer Germany, and Hungary, which is a major recipient of Chinese investment including from (EV producer) BYD, apparently stand in contrast to EU tariff hikes.”
They add that China’s EV sales rose 36.9% year-on-year to 878,000 units in July, according to statistics released by the CPCA on Aug. 8. China’s domestic sales of EVs surpassed those of gasoline-powered cars for the first time in July. They note that this refutes the claim that the industry is in “overcapacity.”