Beijing said Wednesday it had lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the European Union’s decision to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars.The extra taxes of up to 35 percent were announced Tuesday after an EU probe found Chinese state subsidies were undercutting European automakers, but the move has faced opposition from Germany and Hungary, which fear provoking Beijing’s ire and setting off a bitter trade war.China slammed Brussels’s decision on Wednesday morning, saying it did not “agree with or accept” the tariffs and had filed a complaint under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism.”China will… take all necessary measures to firmly protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” Beijing’s commerce ministry said.EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said Tuesday that “by adopting these proportionate and targeted measures after a rigorous investigation, we’re standing up for fair market practices and for the European industrial base”. “We welcome competition, including in the electric vehicle sector, but it must be underpinned by fairness and a level playing field,” he said.But Germany’s main auto industry association warned the tariffs heightened the risk of “a far-reaching trade conflict”, while a Chinese trade group slammed the “politically motivated” decision even as it urged dialogue between the two sides.The duties will come on top of the current 10 percent on imports of electric vehicles from China.The decision became law following its publication in the EU’s official journal on Tuesday, and the duties will enter into force from Wednesday.Once they do, the tariffs will be definitive and last for five years.The extra duties also apply, at various rates, to vehicles made in China by foreign groups such as Tesla, which faces a tariff of 7.8 percent.Chinese car giant Geely — one of the country’s largest sellers of EVs — faces an extra duty of 18.8 percent, while SAIC will be hit with the highest at 35.3 percent.- Ailing companies -The tariffs do not have the support of the majority of the EU’s 27 member states but in a vote early this month, the opposition was not enough to block them, which would have required at least 15 states representing 65 percent of the bloc’s population.The EU launched the probe in a bid to protect its automobile industry, which employs around 14 million people.France, which pushed for the investigation, welcomed the decision.”The European Union is taking a crucial decision to protect and defend our trade interests, at a time when our car industry needs our support more than ever,” French Finance Minister Antoine Armand said in a statement.But Europe’s bigger carmakers, including German auto titan Volkswagen, have criticised the EU’s approach and have urged Brussels to resolve the issue through talks.The extra tariffs are “a step backwards for free global trade and thus for prosperity, job preservation and growth in Europe”, the German Association of the Automotive Industry’s president Hildegard Mueller said on Tuesday after the announcement.Volkswagen, which has been hit hard by rising competition in China, has previously said the tariffs would not improve the competitiveness of the European automotive industry.That warning came weeks before the ailing giant announced plans on Monday to close at least three factories in Germany and cull tens of thousands of jobs.- Retaliatory moves -Talks continue between the EU and China, and the duties can be lifted if they reach a satisfactory agreement, but officials on both sides have pointed to differences.Discussions have been focused on minimum prices that would replace the duties and force carmakers in China to sell vehicles at a certain cost to offset subsidies.”We remain open to a possible alternative solution that would be effective in addressing the problems identified and WTO-compatible,” Dombrovskis said.The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU urged Brussels and Beijing “to accelerate talks on establishing minimum prices and, ultimately, to eliminate these tariffs”.The EU could now face Chinese retaliation, with Beijing already saying on October 8 it would impose provisional tariffs on European brandy.Beijing has also launched probes into EU subsidies of some dairy and pork products imported into China.Trade tensions between China and the EU are not limited to electric cars, with Brussels also investigating Chinese subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines.The EU is not alone in levying heavy tariffs on Chinese electric cars.Canada and the United States have in recent months imposed much higher tariffs of 100 percent on Chinese electric car imports.burs-pfc/smw

Dressed in a pristine white knit top, Robyn Qiu cut an incongruous figure in her parents’ dusty, hangar-like metal hardware factory in eastern China as she gestured excitedly while an assistant filmed her on a smartphone.The 29-year-old is one of many second-generation factory owners fighting to elevate the country’s manufacturing sector, pitting digital native skillsets against the rising costs and geopolitical tensions pushing clients abroad.Qiu said she grew up with “the noise of machines running day and night”, but working in manufacturing was not always her first choice.When Qiu was a child, her parents encouraged her to aim for a white-collar office job far from the dust and din of the factory floor.”Even when they were starting the factory, their goal for me, their expectation for me is to really get a good education and break out of the cycle of farmers,” Qiu said of her parents, who come from agricultural communities.But after years spent working in consulting, the Yale-educated Qiu now feels she has “this very strong responsibility to give back to manufacturing”.Qiu has set up a marketing business that directly connects factories with foreign audiences, through videos posted on Instagram and TikTok, which in China can only be accessed using a VPN.It’s a stark contrast from the way earlier generations conducted business, often with many middlemen and at the mercy of major buyers.In her videos, a cheerful Qiu speaks in fluent English, narrating as she buys street snacks in Shanghai or listing China’s key manufacturing zones while walking along a factory assembly line.- Manufacturing woes -Qiu’s parents, who founded the factory in the 1990s, were part of a massive wave of entrepreneurship that marked the first decades of China’s reform and opening up, when the country transformed into the world’s factory — and eventually, its second largest economy.However, rising wages in China and geopolitical tensions with trade partners including the United States have made alternative locations such as Cambodia and Bangladesh increasingly attractive to clients.The Qius lost major customers in the 2010s after refusing an offer to move their production to Cambodia.Flagging domestic demand in recent years has further weighed on the sector, with the official factory activity index in China contracting for five months in a row since May.The Qius have adapted — they recently purchased more advanced equipment to automate more of the manufacturing process.They are also experimenting with making their own products, laser levels for construction use, rather than only making parts for clients.Qiu said she sees the supply chain as a pyramid, with international brands at the top and raw material suppliers at the bottom.”China is in the middle,” she said. And now, “either we go up or we will go down”.- Being seen -Rose Law, the daughter of a cosmetics factory owner in southern Guangdong province, echoed many of Qiu’s thoughts, telling AFP her personal goals include “being able to have a more positive impact on the industry”.She is overseeing the development of product brands for the family business —- a step up the supply chain from originally making other brands’ goods. Law runs her own shampoo brand, with packaging and formulas inspired by traditional Chinese herbal remedies.”In my parents’ generation, all industries were new, and everyone in various sectors was competing from a similar starting line,” Law told AFP.Now, she sees creating brand loyalty rather than remaining an anonymous supplier as a way to keep orders stable and profitable.”In a market with oversupply, being seen and trusted is extremely important,” she said — and social media is an important way to gain that crucial visibility. – Online success -Qiu said the reaction to her videos has been “amazing”, with more than 500 buyers contacting her since May this year, and more than 150,000 users following her Instagram page.Her online success is mirrored by other “Changerdai”, the Chinese name for second-generation factory owners — a play on “Fuerdai”, a phrase used to describe often idle scions of generational wealth. Changerdai content has gone viral both at home and abroad, albeit sometimes as inadvertent memes.On Instagram, Guangzhou-based LC Sign has drawn half a million followers through videos in which a man, “Tony”, shows off LED signs and does impressions of former US president Donald Trump.On domestic platforms, a six-episode short video drama called “The Empire of Towel” — made by a towel factory Changerdai — has billions of views. Nowadays, “if you want to do marketing, you want to get people’s attention, you have to invest in short videos”, said Qiu.