After Brussels’ preliminary tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, key decisions have to be made by both sides. The tariffs must be confirmed (or not) by EU governments in the autumn. China must decide whether and how to retaliate. These decisions will be interdependent: Beijing will no doubt target capitals with bespoke threats (French cognac is already in its crosshairs) depending on what stance they take.
There is, however, a bigger question: what role should China play in Europe’s decarbonisation agenda? For the Europeans, it is urgent to clarify how they link their twin goals of decarbonising — in particular phasing out new fossil fuel cars within about a decade — and boosting their domestic green tech industry.
Is the aim for the 10mn or so cars Europeans buy every year to be all zero-carbon and produced in Europe? Is it for all the cars to be zero-carbon, but with a significant share coming from China? Or is the priority to ensure that the bulk of EVs bought in Europe are made in Europe — even if that means missing the goal of all new cars soon being carbon-free?