The two sides are having to rely on one another in trying to make the best out of a tough situation brought about by US tariffs. France did stir the pot a little with some controversial headlines below but as a reminder, that isn’t the official stance by the French government but mere advice for the most part. China did respond but surely France and the EU are not going to pursue something so dramatic, at least not at this point in time.
As that blows over social media, China’s commerce ministry is out with some notable rulings with regards to ties with the EU today.
For one, they are now welcoming the idea of Chinese EV makers negotiating agreements with the EU individually. That marks a softening of their previous stance in being critical of firms trying to negotiate deals with the EU on their own terms.
The change in stance comes as the EU approved a request by Volkswagen in exempting its China-made Tavascan SUV coupe from import tariffs. That in exchange for an agreed minimum sales price and quota for the vehicle.
For some context, that marks the first exemption of its kind since the EU introduced tariffs against China-based EV makers since 2024.
Besides that, China has also finalised a ruling on its anti-subsidy probe into EU dairy products. That sees Beijing to impose 11.7% tariffs on EU dairy products starting from 13 February.
Tariffs sound like a negative thing but this needs to be put into context.
The provisional rates for these tariffs were between 21.9% to 42.7% back in December. And this is in part one of the measures that China is taking up in response to EU tariffs on China-based EV makers.
But as both sides negotiate to work out some compromises, China is at least agreeing with European dairy industry associations to reduce the proposed tariffs. And that is reflected above, as they bring it down to just 11.7%.
