In 2025, my country’s hybrid vehicles will usher in explosive growth in exports to the EU market.
Data show that this year, my country’s exports of hybrid vehicles to the EU surged by 155% year-on-year. This growth far exceeded the 12% export growth of pure electric vehicles that were subject to additional tariffs.
The EU is paying close attention to this, believing that Chinese car companies are increasing exports of hybrid models to avoid additional tariffs on pure electric models.
Based on this view, the EU regards it as the core reason for planning new tariff measures.
At present, the preparatory work for the imposition of countervailing duties is basically in place. As long as it obtains the approval of a majority of member states, the European Commission can formally implement the policy.
It is worth mentioning that Germany, which had previously been cautious about tax increases, did not express its opposition clearly this time.
At the recent EU summit held in Brussels, economic and trade restrictions on China became a core issue.
EU leaders frequently exaggerate the trade imbalance with China, claiming that the daily trade deficit with China of up to 1 billion euros is “unsustainable in the long term.”
To this end, the EU plans to introduce new regulations to force local companies to reduce their dependence on China’s industrial chain and promote supply chain diversification.
In addition, the EU is also planning to create a trade tool similar to the United States’ “Section 301”, trying to further expand restrictions such as tariffs and quotas on the grounds of “overcapacity” and “unfair competition.”
However, there are obvious differences in the actual trade balance structure between China and Europe.
Although China maintains a surplus in trade in goods, it has been in deficit all year round in trade in services.
In 2025, my country’s service trade deficit with Europe will reach as high as 48.3 billion U.S. dollars. The EU is the largest source of my country’s service trade deficit. Among them, my country has paid tens of billions of dollars to the EU for intellectual property-related fees alone.
In addition, a large number of European companies in China rely on the Chinese market to obtain huge profits, objectively forming a pattern of “the surplus remains in China and the profits belong to Europe.”
Industry expert analysis pointed out that Europe is currently under economic pressure and anxiety is rising in the context of intensified industrial competition between China and the United States, leading to the continued rise of trade protectionism.
However, since the demands of EU member states are not unified, internal differences will affect the actual implementation of relevant policies.
In the face of the European measures, China has always insisted on resolving differences through dialogue and firmly opposes unilateral trade barriers.
At the same time, China has improved relevant countermeasures and reserved sufficient space to respond to unreasonable trade restrictions.
In future Sino-European trade exchanges, both sides need to view trade issues more rationally and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results through cooperation, rather than taking trade protection measures to disrupt the normal order of the market.
