SHANGHAI — Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius said the German automaker was urging the European Union to find an “equitable solution” to create a level playing field for China-made electric vehicles in Europe.
A pure tariff barrier was the “crudest instrument” that could be applied, he told reporters on the sidelines of the 2025 Shanghai auto show.
“We need to seek win wins. A conversation about a level playing field in an open market is always legitimate. But a pure tariff barrier is the crudest instrument you can apply,” he said.
Kallenius is also president of ACEA, the European automakers’ lobbying group.
“We have wished for the EU and negotiators on the Chinese side to come up with an equitable solution and from what I have read and heard, they are in discussions,” Kallenius said. “History tells us that economies exposed to the full force of competition are the most innovative. That is what we would like.”
The EU increased tariffs on Chinese-built EVs to as much as 45.3 percent last October, but Brussels and Beijing have floated the idea of lifting the tariffs through possible commitments to minimum prices, known as price undertakings for imported cars.
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European Commission says it’s open to more discussions with China
The European Commission has said it is willing to continue negotiating an alternative to tariffs with China, which included tariffs of 17 percent for vehicles made by BYD, 18.8 percent for Geely and 35.3 percent for SAIC, on top of the EU’s standard car import duty of 10 percent.
The discussions to potentially find a truce over the longstanding spat, which has also roiled French cognac makers as Beijing took retaliatory trade action, come as President Donald Trump has embarked on a trade war with some of the United States’ closest trading partners, including the EU and China.
Mercedes on April 22 ahead of the opening of the Shanghai auto show unveiled an electric van concept, the Vision V, which will go into production aimed at the Chinese market.
Kallenius said he expected to see momentum build in the upper end of the segment for electric vehicles in the next two to three years. Plug-in hybrids would likely continue to co-exist with full-electric offerings, he added, at least until 2030.
