Mercedes Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius talked about the European Union’s decision on import taxes for Chinese electric cars. He spoke at a conference on Thursday. He said, “A decision is imminent.” The decision was supposed to happen this week but got delayed until after next week’s election in the EU.
The European Commission, which manages trade for the EU, started looking into this matter in October. They wanted to see if electric cars from China were getting subsidies that could distort the market. They were thinking about putting extra taxes on these cars.
Kaellenius said he doesn’t like restrictions, but he understands that some countries are helping their own carmakers, which goes against the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He thinks it’s better to encourage trade instead of putting up barriers. This is especially important for Germany because it relies a lot on exporting goods.
Mercedes, along with other German carmakers like BMW and Volkswagen, sells many cars in China and even makes some of them there.
