Cars are parked at a Tesla dealership. The automotive manufacturer Tesla presents its business figures for the past quarter after a decline in deliveries.
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The European Union on Tuesday said planned tariffs on Tesla vehicles being imported from China could be cut to 9% from 20.8%, while also reducing quite a few planned import duties on other electric vehicle firms.
These tariffs will come on top of existing duties of 10% the EU has already imposed on imports of battery electric vehicles.
In June, the EU said it will slap higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, which it found profit “heavily from unfair subsidies” and pose a “threat of economic injury” to EV producers in Europe.
The European Commission, the chief arm of the EU, announced a preliminary conclusion that the battery-electric vehicles value chain in China “advantages from unfair subsidisation” and pronounced that it’s within the EU’s interest to impose “provisional countervailing duties” on BEV imports from China.
The EU Commission disclosed on Tuesday its draft decision to “impose definitive countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China.”
The regulatory body said that after receiving comments from interested parties on its planned tariffs, it will make a “slight adjustment of the proposed duty rates based on substantiated comments on the provisional measures.”
Electric vehicles made by Tesla in China will now face duties of 9% on imports to the EU. That’s down from an anticipated rate of 20.8%, which the EU signposted in an earlier decision in July.
Tesla shares rose greater than 1% in U.S. morning trading following the EU’s draft decision.
The EU said it made the choice to grant Tesla its own lowered individual duty rate as an exporter from China.
It comes after Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker made a “substantiated request” to the EU that planned tariffs on its China-made EVs be recalculated to reflect specific subsidies the corporate receives in China.
Tesla was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Tuesday.
BYD, the Warren Buffett-backed EV firm, saw its tariff rate reduced from 17.4% to 17%; Geely from 19.9% to 19.3%, SAIC from 37.6% to 36.3%. BYD, Geely and SAIC didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment outside of working hours in China.
Other firms cooperating with the EU in its investigation into China’s heavy subsidization of EVs, will face tariffs of 21.3%, the commission said. That is higher than the 20.8% rate cooperating firms would have faced under the EU’s previous July decision.
For those not cooperating, they will likely be slapped with 36.3% import duties. That’s down from 37.6% previously.
— CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin contributed to this text.
