China confirms major disputes with EU over hiking tariffs on electric vehicles

China on Saturday affirmed that it has been embroiled in major disputes with the European Union over planned higher fees on imported Chinese electric vehicles. A spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that differences remained despite organizing marathon negotiations, held over the past week, with the Europeans aimed at sorting them out. China had held up to eight rounds of intensive negotiations with the European side in Brussels. The talks had been held after the Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao had talks with Vladis Dombrovskis, the Executive Vince President of the European Commission, on September 19th, when the two sides agreed on exerting further efforts to advance the dialogue. The ministry spokesman called on the European bloc to abstain from holding separate talks with Chinese companies that manufacture the electric vehicles, warning that such an approach would undermine mutual confidence. He hoped that the EU would send a delegation to China, as soon as possible, to pursue the consultations "in a constructive manner." The EU Commission has recently voted in favor of imposing additional tariffs reaching 45 percent on the Chinese electric cars. China has retaliated by taking restrictive measures against imported European commodities, such as raising tariffs on some imported European products, amid fears that the tit for tat measures might ultimately snowball into a full-fledged "trade war" between the two powers. Source: Kuwait News Agency