EU should not follow US in imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung recently published a commentary entitled “The EU should not follow the United States”, saying that the United States has recently significantly increased tariffs on Chinese products, which is obviously a protectionist act of US President Biden during the election, and the EU should not be affected by it. The article wrote that the EU should carefully consider whether to take action at the risk of a trade war. From the perspective of the EU, German manufacturers are very successful in China, the world’s largest automobile market. One out of every three cars they sell is sold in China, which guarantees a large number of German jobs. If China and Europe fall into a trade war, it will be a huge blow to German manufacturers. The article believes that the EU should go beyond pure national interests and ensure that market competition conditions are roughly fair. Competition from China is good for consumers because they can benefit from more choices and lower prices. More intense competition will also encourage local suppliers to improve themselves, while trade wars will only push up prices and reduce supply. The article also said that if the EU promotes the development of the electric vehicle industry on the grounds of climate protection on the one hand, but hinders foreign suppliers who help achieve emission reduction targets from entering the EU market on the other hand, this will damage the EU’s own credibility.