EU and China open talks over electric car tariffs

Brussels, Belgium: EU and China trade chiefs held candid and constructive talks on Saturday over plans from Brussels to ramp up tariffs on Chinese e...

Brussels, Belgium: EU and China trade chiefs held "candid and constructive" talks on Saturday over plans from Brussels to ramp up tariffs on Chinese electric cars, and the two sides will hold further consultations, the EU said.

The European Union warned this month that it would slap additional tariffs of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car imports from July after an anti-subsidy probe, in a move that risks provoking a bitter trade war.

An EU spokesman said European trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao "had a candid and constructive call on Saturday on the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into battery electric vehicles produced in China".

"The EU side emphasised that any negotiated outcome to its investigation must be effective in addressing the injurious subsidisation," spokesman Olof Gill said.

"The two sides will continue to engage at all levels in the coming weeks."