China-EU tariff agreement on EVs seen cutting shipments but boosting profitability

Assemblers of Chinese pure-electric cars from BYD to Leapmotor will avoid a brutal discount war after European authorities accepted price undertakings to replace punitive anti-subsidy tariffs of up to 35.3 per cent.

Minimum prices would technically temper sales volume, particularly for low-priced small electric cars, Deutsche Bank analyst Wang Bin said in a research note. But he added that the policy shift would have a positive impact on China’s EV king BYD, which posted a nearly fourfold delivery jump in Europe last year.

The EU levied tariffs of 7.8 per cent to 35.3 per cent on Chinese-made pure electric cars in late 2024 following more than a year of anti-subsidy investigations.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, and Beijing reached an agreement to remove the tariffs, according to their announcement on Monday. Instead, Chinese EV builders agreed to sell their cars at minimum prices on the continent.

The commission outlined how Chinese exporters could submit price undertaking offers, which it said must be “adequate to eliminate the injurious effects of the subsidies and provide equivalent effect to duties”. It encouraged exporters to include commitments such as annual shipment volumes and planned future investments in the EU.