Europe just slashed tariffs on cars made by Tesla in China

The European Union may have just given Tesla’s future sales a boost in the bloc after setting tariffs on its China-made electric cars considerably below that for Chinese rivals.

The European Union may have just given Tesla’s future sales in the region a boost by setting tariffs on its China-made vehicles considerably below those imposed on rival electric carmakers. The high-profile decision comes two months after the EU hiked tariffs on all electric cars imported from China, citing “unfair” state subsidies that unduly benefited the country’s electric vehicle makers at the expense of European manufacturers. Tesla, which has a factory near Berlin but exports many of the cars it makes in China to Europe, had requested that the EU recalculate its rate, initially set at 20.8%. On Tuesday, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, set that rate at 9%. That applies on top of the existing EU duty of 10% on all EV imports, but it is still well below the additional tariffs of between 17% and 36.3% levied on other Chinese automakers. The European Commission said the tariff reflected the “level of subsidies” Tesla received in China.