After the drastic punitive tariffs announced by US President Joe Biden for the import of Chinese electric cars into the United States, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing warned the European Union against wanting to follow the American example.
The FDP minister told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “Starting a trade war through punitive tariffs is the wrong way. Our market should not be sealed off, but rather strengthened through competition,” emphasized Wissing.
Germany and Europe must have open markets. “We want international trade with fair and uniform competition rules,” said the SPD politician. This also applies to German industry. “German companies are not afraid of competition,” said Wissing. “Our companies produce top products for the whole world and we want it to stay that way in the future,” he added. “Made in Germany stands for the highest quality and technical know-how,” he said.
The US government announced on Tuesday that it would increase the special tariff on Chinese electric cars from 25 to 100 percent. Punitive tariffs have also been imposed or increased for solar cells, semiconductors, electric car batteries and other products from China.