英语新闻丨Arrows in quiver to counter EU tariffs
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China has "abundant" countermeasures against the European Commission's latest tariffs on imported (misread“imported” as“importing”) Chinese electric vehicles, and will safeguard the legitimate rights of its companies, said industry experts and officials on Wednesday.6月12日行业专家和官员表示,中国将采取“大量”反制措施以应对欧盟委员会对中国进口电动汽车征收的最新关税,将维护中国公司的合法权益。Their comments came as the EC, which represents the interests of the EU as a whole, notified automakers on Wednesday that it would apply additional duties of up to 38.1 percent on imported Chinese EVs from next month.欧盟委员会发布关于对华电动汽车反补贴调查的初裁披露,自2024年7月起,欧盟委员会将向中国电动汽车征收高达38.1%的额外关税。Sun Xiaohong, secretary-general of the automotive branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily that China has abundant countermeasures against the EC's latest tariffs.中国机电产品进出口商会(中国机电商会)分会秘书长孙晓红在接受《中国日报》专访时表示,中国对欧盟委员会发布的最新关税持大量反制措施。"But the country is more willing to negotiate with the EU to avoid a trade war as much as possible," Sun said, adding that the EU's move is rare, unreasonable and does not conform to WTO principles.Sun said that the EC's motive is not for trade development at all. For example, Tesla has been temporarily excluded from the temporary tariffs and is pending in this respect regarding supplementary materials, which reflects how "targeted" the tariffs are at China's EV industry, he said.孙晓红认为:“中国更愿意与欧盟委员会谈判,尽可能避免贸易争端,”并补充说其征收关税的举动罕见且不合理,不符合世贸组织的原则。欧盟委员会的目的并不是促进贸易发展。例如:特斯拉已暂被排除在此次征收临时关税之外,等待补充材料。此举反映此次征收关税对中国电动汽车行业的“针对性”。Despite China's dominance in the global EV market, the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU pointed out that China's exports of EVs to the EU accounted for only about 5 percent of its total production in 2023 and notably, these exports are primarily comprised of European and US branded EVs.尽管中国在全球电动汽车市场占据主导地位,但中国驻欧盟商会指出,2023年中国对欧盟的电动汽车出口仅占其总产量的5%左右,而值得注意的是,这些出口主要由欧美品牌电动汽车组成。The chamber said in a recent statement that the move was "politically motivated and protectionism-driven", as several Chinese enterprises and stakeholders have reported misuse of investigative power and misconduct by the EC during the investigation.由于部分中国企业和利益相关者报告了欧盟委员会在调查期间滥用调查权等不当行为,中国驻欧盟商会在最近的声明中表示,此举(中国出口欧盟电动汽车占总产量5%)是“出于政治动机和保护主义”。This includes exercising investigative powers exceeding the scope of an anti-subsidy investigation, unreasonable documentation and information requests beyond the enterprises' capacity and burden of proof, and insufficient time given to concerned enterprises to collect requested data and information, it said.同时,声明中提到欧盟委员会行使超出反补贴调查范围的权力,(要求)超出企业能力和举证和信息,以及未给予相关企业充分时间收集其数据和信息。Sun said that as the EU's investigation has never occurred before globally, it is difficult for both the initiators and affected companies to complete quantitative analysis."Many Chinese companies don't know how to respond and are worried about privacy leaks."孙晓红认为,由于欧盟的调查史无前例,发起方和受影响企业很难完成定量分析,导致许多中国企业不知道如何应对,担心隐私泄露。At a news conference on Wednesday, Ding Weishun, an official from the Ministry of Commerce, said that China firmly opposes any form of protectionism, and will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms.Ding said that the EU has been leveraging various discriminatory trade means to launch probes into Chinese companies, which will seriously affect the confidence of enterprises in related cooperation overseas."Such moves are typical means of protectionism ... but they won't stop Chinese new energy companies from going global," Ding said.在6月12日的国务院新闻办发布会上,商务部政研室副主任丁维顺最新回应:中方坚决反对任何形式的保护主义,将坚定维护中国企业的合法权益。他表示,欧盟一直在利用各种歧视性贸易手段对中国企业进行调查,这将严重影响中国企业与海外相关企业合作的信心。丁维顺表明:“这些举动是典型的保护主义手段,但无法阻止中国新能源企业走向全球。”。 Sun also pointed out that cooperation between EU and Chinese companies will only bring huge benefits to the European automotive industry."Cooperation will only help Europe to accelerate their industrial transformation and upgrading. Many European companies, in fact, also hope to cooperate with China's EV sector to achieve win-win results," he added.孙晓红指出,欧盟与我国企业间的合只会给欧洲汽车行业带来大量利益回报:“合作只会帮助欧洲加快产业转型升级。许多欧洲企业也希望与中国电动汽车行业实现合作共赢。”European Commissionn.欧盟委员会EVabbr. electronic vehicles电动汽车China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Productsn.中国机电产品进出口商会WTOabbr.World Trade Organization世界贸易组织Ministry of Commercen.商务部anti-subsidyadj.反补贴的