The boss of Mercedes-Benz has called on Brussels to lower tariffs on electric cars imported from China, just as the European Commission is considering raising import duties amid a probe into Beijing’s subsidies for its car industry. Increased competition from China would help Europe’s carmakers produce better cars in the long run, chief executive Ola Källenius said, adding that protectionism is “going the wrong way”.
“Don’t raise tariffs. I’m a contrarian, I think go the other way around: take the tariffs that we have and reduce them,” he told the Financial Times.
Chinese companies looking to export to Europe was a “natural progression of competition and it needs to be met with better product, better technology, more agility,” he added. “That is the market economy. Let competition play out.”