(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s auto industry association signaled it opposes any European Union tariffs on electric-vehicle imports from China, saying they would risk a trade war and threaten German jobs.

With German Chancellor Olaf Scholz due in China on Sunday for talks with leaders including President Xi Jinping, the warning is a sign of the pressures in the relationship between the two economic powers.  

“The current business with China secures a large number of jobs here in Germany,” Hildegard Mueller, head of the VDA association, told Welt am Sonntag. “The transformation that our companies are currently financing with record sums is also being financed with money from this central sales market.” 

Read more: EU Moves Toward Hitting China With Tariffs on Electric Vehicles

Any tariffs the EU imposes to offset state subsidies that give made-in-China models an advantage are liable to quickly have a negative impact if there’s a trade conflict, putting EU goals of promoting electric vehicles and digital technology at risk, she said. 

The European Commission has determined there’s “sufficient evidence” that imports of new battery electric vehicles from China received illegal subsidies. The EU warned that manufacturers could suffer from diminishing sales and production levels if the imports of Chinese electric vehicles continue unchecked. 

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