Business & Economics
EU–China Minimum-Price Scheme Supplants 2024 EV Tariffs
On 12 Jan 2026 Brussels issued guidance letting Chinese EV makers substitute up-to-35.3 % duties with “price-undertaking” floor prices agreed after 15 months of talks with Beijing.
Focusing Facts
- Guidance released 12 Jan 2026 details how BYD, Geely, SAIC and others can avoid the 17–35.3 % countervailing tariffs imposed 30 Oct 2024 by pledging a minimum CIF selling price for every car shipped.
- The framework emerged from a negotiation launched after only 10 of 27 EU states backed the original tariffs, which Beijing answered with retaliatory duties on EU dairy, pork and brandy in 2025.
- Chinese-built cars already reached 6 % of EU sales in H1 2025 and are projected by AlixPartners to hit 10 % by 2030 even with the new price floor.
Context
Managed-trade bargains like Japan’s 1981 “voluntary” export restraints on cars foreshadow this deal: a political price cap replaces blunt tariffs, cushioning domestic producers while letting imports keep climbing. Structurally, it shows the EU trapped between two imperatives that have been converging for decades—climate policy that needs cheap EVs, and industrial strategy that fears de-industrialisation. By opting for negotiated floors rather than litigation in a paralysed WTO, Brussels and Beijing signal that the 20th-century free-trade architecture is giving way to ad-hoc, carbon-era industrial compacts. Whether this moment matters in 2126 will hinge on two trajectories: if China retains technology leadership, Europe’s concession could mark the point its auto sector ceded mass-market ground for good; if not, it will be remembered as a short-lived détente in the messy transition from petroleum to electrons.
Perspectives
Chinese state-owned media
e.g., China Daily — The pricing-undertaking agreement shows China and the EU can settle disputes cooperatively and will safeguard global supply chains and the rules-based trading system. By branding the EU’s subsidy probe as “unfounded” and stressing how the deal actually boosts Chinese exporters’ profits, the coverage downplays evidence of heavy state support and frames Beijing as a constructive victim of protectionism.
Western mainstream news-wire outlets
AP, UPI — Brussels’ new minimum-price guidelines are a cautious way to curb unfair Chinese subsidies that the EU says endanger up to 2.5 million auto jobs while offering a path to lift tariffs if conditions are met. By foregrounding EU job-loss estimates and the anti-subsidy findings while relegating Beijing’s ‘protectionism’ complaints to brief quotes, these reports largely echo European policymakers’ narrative and give limited scrutiny to the evidence behind it.
Auto-enthusiast and industry commentary sites
Jalopnik, Carscoops — Commentators argue the minimum-price scheme won’t stop Chinese brands like BYD from tightening their grip on Europe, leaving local makers squeezed even if formal tariffs disappear. The punchy, audience-driven tone magnifies a story of inevitable Chinese dominance and European decline to drive clicks, glossing over how strict price floors or volume caps could still limit imports.