FT reported on Tesla's lawsuit against the EU over tariffs on electric cars from China

Tesla has filed a lawsuit against the European Union (EU) over the tariffs imposed on imports of electric cars from China. This was reported by the Financial Times (FT) on January 27 with reference to EU documents.

It is specified that in October 2024, the EU imposed anti-subsidy tariffs for Tesla up to 7.8%, as well as on other Chinese electric cars up to 35.3%. Tesla's lawsuit followed similar claims from Germany's BMW and several Chinese automakers.

"The anti-subsidy tariffs were introduced following an EU investigation launched in 2023 into China's unfair support of its electric car industry," the piece said.

It is noted that Brussels found that car manufacturers benefited from soft loans, cheap land deals, as well as subsidies for suppliers.

FT specifies that in 2024, about a fifth of the electric cars sold in the EU were designed in the PRC. According to the environmental NGO Transport and Environment, Tesla accounted for 28% of Chinese-made electric cars.

Earlier, on December 11, 2024, it became known that a group of members of the European Parliament (EP) from France reported on the threat of trade war between the EU and China in connection with possible retaliatory measures of Beijing to the introduction by Brussels of tariffs on electric cars from China.

On September 15, it was reported that leading Western global brands have dominated the Chinese market for many years, but now their leadership is threatened by the rise of Chinese electric car makers such as BYD and Xpeng. These companies have changed the market significantly, overtaking Volkswagen, Ford and General Motors. Due to the increase in Chinese electric car production, Volkswagen first announced the possible closure of plants in Germany.

In late August, it was reported that the Canadian government would impose 100% duties on imports of electric cars that were manufactured in China.

In July, the European Commission announced the imposition of duties on Chinese electric cars ranging from 17.4-37.6%, the tariffs were applied following an investigation to counter "illegal subsidies" that Beijing allegedly provides to Chinese automakers.