German Car Industry Opposes EU Probe on Chinese EV Batteries, Industry Official Says

German automakers don't want the EU to impose trade restrictions on Chinese electric vehicles, Hildegard Muller, president of the German Automotive Industry Association, told Beijing in a meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao this week.

“Muller said that the German automobile industry firmly supports market openness and fair competition and opposes trade protectionism,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation of a readout of an April 28 meeting between Muller and Wang. Muller told China that “adding tariffs is not the solution to trade issues.”

Muller’s comments came several months after the EU launched a countervailing duty probe on Chinese electric vehicle batteries (see 2310040012 and 2403150047). Muller told German news broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen and Chinese newspaper China Daily earlier this month that her organization doesn’t support the CVD investigation, telling China Daily the EU instead needs an “active” industrial policy to aid its own carmakers.