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In
the highest profile European Union probe of alleged Chinese
subsidies, the Commission issued draft definitive findings of
its anti-subsidy investigation, which has provoked threats of
retaliation from Beijing.
It set a new reduced rate of 9% for Tesla, lower than the 20.8%
it had indicated in July.
Tesla had requested a recalculation of its rate to be based on
the specific subsidies the company had received, according to
the Commission.
The EU executive said on Tuesday it still believed Chinese EV
production had benefited from extensive subsidies and proposed
final duties of up to 36.3%. That is slightly lower than the
maximum provisional duty of 37.6% the Commission had set in July
for companies that did not cooperate with the EU's anti-subsidy
investigation.
Tesla was among the companies classed as cooperating with the EU
investigation.
The Commission said it conducted an investigation, including
sending a team to Tesla facilities in China, to verify what
subsidies the firm had received.
A Commission official said Brussels had concluded that Tesla
receives less subsidies from China, compared to the Chinese EV
producers Brussels had investigated.
The tariffs are on top of the EU's standard 10% duty on car
imports.
The Commission, which oversees the bloc's trade policy, says the
measure is needed to counter what it says are unfair subsidies.
It said on Tuesday the three companies it had sampled would each
receive slightly lower provisional duties. For Chinese electric
vehicle giant BYD, it said the rate was 17.0%, Geely 19.3% and
SAIC 36.3%.
In July, the Commission set provisional duties of between 17.4%
and 37.6% on top of the EU's standard 10% duty on car imports.
For BYD the additional rate was 17.4%, Geely 19.9% and SAIC
37.6%.
Chinese firms in joint ventures with EU producers may also be
eligible for the lower duty rates planned for the Chinese
company in which they are integrated - as opposed to
automatically receiving the highest tariff rate, the Commission
said.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Kate Abnett, Sudip Kar-Gupta,
Benoit Van Overstraeten; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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