BRUSSELS — European capitals are broadly supportive of the European Commission’s plan to impose import duties on made-in-China electric vehicles, according to the results of a non-binding vote.
The results also show that Germany — the most vocal opponent of the charges — will have a hard time mounting an effective defense before a binding vote in October. To block the duties, Berlin would need to build a “qualified majority” of 15 countries representing 65 percent of the EU’s population.
Neither requirement seems within reach after Monday’s poll.
In the indicative vote, which only required a simple majority to pass, 10 countries voted in favor and four against, while 11 abstained. Two countries did not take part in the vote, several EU diplomats — granted anonymity to discuss the confidential vote — confirmed to POLITICO.
The EU’s four most populous countries after Germany — France, Italy, Spain and Poland — voted in favor of the duties. With that quartet already accounting for over 47 percent of the bloc’s headcount, Berlin would need to sway either France or Italy into its camp to have a chance of blocking the duties.
But even that may not be enough, because Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark also posted a positive vote.
Only Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and Cyprus voted against.
With Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition itself internally at odds over the duties, Germany abstained in the initial vote — as did Romania, Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden. Czechia and Greece did not take part, but the Commission counted them as supportive.
The EU executive announced earlier this month that it would impose provisional duties on imports of Chinese EVs of up to 37.6 percent — a step that has brought simmering trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing to the boil and divided the bloc.
Countries that are more skeptical of the duties fear further retaliation from Beijing, which has already targeted exports of French cognac and pork meat.
This week’s vote marked the first time countries have weighed in on the major investigation into unfair subsidies that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last fall. In the October vote, where the qualified majority applies, countries will formally decide on whether to cement the duties for up to five years.