EU rejects Chinese proposals to avoid duties on EVs

“The Commission has concluded that none of the offers met these requirements,” Gill announced. The content of the offers is confidential.

In a final attempt to sway the EU, China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao will meet the bloc’s trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis on Sept. 19.

“We remain open to a negotiated solution,” Gill said, while stressing that any Chinese proposal should accord with World Trade Organization rules and address the subsidies.

Wang lands in Brussels days before representatives of EU countries will hold a formal vote, on Sept. 25, to cement the duties for five years. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain suggested on a visit to China this week that his government might reverse on its earlier opinion and vote against.

Gill refused to comment on Sánchez’ apparent change of heart. He also didn’t want to predict whether the Commission still has enough votes in favor. Under the bloc’s rules, a so-called qualified majority of 15 countries, representing 65 percent of the EU population, would need to vote against the duties to block them.

The duties range from 7.8 percent to 35.3 percent and are meant to cancel out the subsidies the Chinese government has lavished on electric vehicle makers.