In the forty-fourth episode of the EU to go podcast, Thu Nguyen talks to Arthur Leichthammer and Sander Tordoir about European trade policy, the countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles and the challenges facing the new EU Commission.
With regard to China, the EU needs a new trade policy with a pragmatic view of the individual sectors. At least that is what Mario Draghi, who presented his report on the European economy last week, is calling for. It was only in June that the EU Commission imposed provisional tariffs on EVs from China in order to offset the unfair competitive conditions created by Chinese subsidies. On 19 September, the EU Trade Commissioner met with the Chinese Trade Minister to discuss these same subsidies and countervailing duties - with no result. What are the next steps in EU trade policy with regard to China and what does this mean for European industry?
Thu Nguyen discusses this question with Arthur Leichthammer, Policy Fellow for Geoeconomics at the Jacques Delors Centre, and Sander Tordoir, Chief Economist at the Centre for European Reform. Together they take a closer look at the case of EVs and the EU's trade policy towards China, discuss the effectiveness of countervailing duties and ask themselves: Why is intervention necessary? Can the EU resort to further measures? What challenges will the new Commission face? And is the EU facing a trade war with China?
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