2023-09-15 09:28:42
Jörg Hofmann, first chairman of the metal industry union (IG Metall), is open to possible punitive tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars. “The EU will now examine this first. If the suspicion of state-subsidized dumping can be proven, then countermeasures are necessary,” said the trade unionist in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. IG Metall is the largest German trade union with around 2.1 million members.
Marcus Theurer
Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
It is not only in the case of Chinese electric cars that it is questionable whether “zero-emission vehicles that are transported halfway around the world are still zero-emission vehicles,” Hofmann points out. “It makes a lot of sense that such topics are increasingly being discussed in times of climate change, globalized value creation and fierce industrial policy competition,” said the IG Metall boss, who sits as a union representative on the supervisory boards of Volkswagen and Bosch.
Other trade unionists also support the emerging protectionist measures against China, which have been discussed in Brussels for some time. “It won’t work without it,” Roman Zitzelsberger, district manager of IG Metall in Baden-Württemberg and supervisory board at Mercedes-Benz, told the FAS two weeks ago.
Jörg Hofmann, chairman of the IG Metall union: Image: AFP
In the auto industry itself, Carlos Tavares, head of the European car company Stellantis, has long been campaigning for trade policy measures against Chinese car imports. Stellantis includes the brands Opel, Fiat and Peugeot, among others.
German car manufacturers, on the other hand, are negative or at least reluctant to impose punitive tariffs against China – also because the country is their most important sales market and they fear countermeasures from the government in Beijing. Chinese manufacturers are now also important customers for large German auto suppliers such as Bosch and ZF. Bosch boss Stefan Hartung has repeatedly warned of a trade war with China.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday that anti-subsidy proceedings would be initiated due to extensive state aid for Chinese electric car manufacturers. This can lead to punitive tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars into the European Union.
Chinese car manufacturers are now increasingly pushing their vehicles onto the European and German markets. The management consultancy McKinsey recently estimated in an analysis that the production costs for electric cars in China are up to 30 percent lower than in Europe.
A comment from Hendrik Kafsack, Brussels Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 12 Marcus Theurer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 15 Marcus Theurer, Munich Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 176
The Chinese state has specifically supported its domestic manufacturers of electric cars and important supplier industries such as battery production for many years. The Chinese car manufacturer BYD is now the world’s top-selling manufacturer of electric and hybrid vehicles and at the same time one of the largest battery cell manufacturers. The clear world market leader for battery cells is the Chinese manufacturer CATL, which is also an important supplier to German car companies.
However, BYD and other Chinese car manufacturers now also want to build their own factories in Europe, which would question the effectiveness of the EU’s punitive tariffs against them. BYD has announced that it will make a decision on the location of European production by the end of the year. There are hopes in Germany that the Chinese could take over Ford’s car factory in Saarlouis, whose future has become uncertain.
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