Another Ideological Illusion: EU Imposes Tariffs on Chinese EVs

On Oct. 4, member states of the European Union approved imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EV), defeating the German opposition. France, Italy, Greece and Poland had announced they would vote in favor, and they had the numbers to neutralize a blocking minority. This vote led to a serious split between Germany and France, which usually coordinate their votes at the EU level. However, France is less affected than Germany by the tariffs, as all major German carmakers produce their EVs in China.

Another insane decision on E-mobility had been taken one week earlier, which saw Germany and France reject the Italian request to anticipate a review of, and to suspend punitive emission targets for thermal engines, set to go into force on Jan. 1, 2025. Both votes demonstrate that EU unity is non-existent.

The irony is that new EU punitive tariffs against Chinese-made e-cars will not bring relief to European carmakers, as former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Thyssen-Krupp Steel until a few days ago, pointed out in an interview with Handelsblatt of Oct. 6. There are structural problems in Europe, Gabriel said, such as the lack of re-charging stations and of battery production, and the lower prices of Chinese-made cars. China produces two-thirds of all e-cars globally.

He criticized the entire E-mobility strategy of the EU, noting that he has “never understood why we Germans are so willfully ruining one of the most important pillars of our economy and our prosperity”, by phasing out internal combustion engines by decree. No other country in the world would do such a thing, in his view. Gabriel is particularly concerned about the consequences for automotive suppliers.

Also from Italy, the CEO of ENI Claudio Descalzi on Oct. 7 blasted the EU Green Deal and called for shifting from “climate policies” back to “growth policies”. ENI, although downsized from the time of its founder Enrico Mattei, is among the world’s “super-major” energy companies and still exerts great influence on Italian foreign policy, in particular as concerns Italy’s relations to oil and gas producing countries.

“I do not want to be anti-European,” Descalzi said, “I am anti-stupidity because stupidity kills and is killing us. We are suffering from it in the light of ridiculous ideologies that are being dictated to us by a minority in Europe.”

Regarding China, Descalzi remarked that “we keep comparing Europe to China, but China is a state while Europe is a continent, made up of different cultures and energy mixes”. The industrial component of the economy was shut down, he noted, in favor of “the tertiary sector that was urged by globalization: We import more than twice what we export.” And on decarbonization, he said: “We emit less CO₂, but it is a fairy tale: Europe has reduced harmful emissions only because production has been moved elsewhere in the world.”