China leans on German carmakers to help break Brussels tariff deadlock, fix Nexperia mess

Vice-Minister of Commerce Ling Ji made the appeal to German industry leaders, seeking to leverage their influence in Brussels.

Ling spoke with Hildegard Mueller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), and Ola Kallenius, president of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association and chairman of Mercedes-Benz Group.

Ling urged the German and European automotive groups to “leverage their influence to encourage the European Commission and China to move towards each other and resolve the electric-vehicle anti-subsidy investigation as soon as possible”, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Monday.

For her part, Mueller reiterated the VDA’s opposition to Brussels’s anti-subsidy tariffs against Chinese EVs and expressed her hope that Nexperia could solve internal disputes through dialogue.

Currently visiting China, Mueller pointed to rare earth restrictions and the Nexperia saga as examples of where long-term solutions are needed to ensure supply, in a statement sent to the Post before her trip began.