Hard to see Chinese EV price deal by end of October, says EU official

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission has received minimum price offers from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce covering several EV producers and separately from a number of individual exporters as part of negotiations to avert EU tariffs, a senior EU official said.

“I won’t exclude it, but it seems very, very difficult to reach an agreement by the end of October, because (of)… the very complex, difficult issues to solve,” the official said on Monday, referring to the scheduled end of an EU anti-subsidy investigation into EVs, when tariffs are to be imposed.

The EU has said talks could extend beyond then, but the official said the challenge was formidable because price undertakings, involving a minimum price, to date had been for homogenous commodities, rather than complex products such as cars.

China on Saturday urged the European Union not to conduct separate negotiations over price of Chinese-made EVs sold in the EU, warning this would “shake the foundations” of bilateral tariff negotiations.

The EU official said it would be “highly unusual” to focus only on one price undertaking and not look at the others. Indeed, the Commission was obliged to consider all offers.