(Bloomberg) -- The European Union’s top economic official said that envisioned tariffs by the bloc on Chinese-made electric vehicles can’t be considered protectionism.
“Until maybe three or four years ago we had a more optimistic attitude on trade with China,” Economics Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power” on Friday. “Now we know that to have a level playing field, we have to be much more monitoring how much subsidies are working and how several sectors are affected by overproduction. Having this new approach doesn’t mean that we will adopt a protectionist attitude.”
Gentiloni spoke less than a week before EVs made in China will face levies as high as 45% with regulation introducing new tariffs due by Oct. 30. Officials from Brussels and Beijing have been holding talks aimed at avoiding such levies, but the EU said earlier on Friday that it still sees “significant remaining gaps.”
Implementing such measures “is something very reasonable, proportionate from our side,” Gentiloni said. “There is Chinese overcapacity in this sector, and also subsidies to their industries.”
Gentiloni also highlighted that free trade is a core EU value.
“We should be very careful in keeping trade open — of course having it more secure, as we all are saying now, but secure doesn’t mean protectionism and closing trade,” he said.
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