China appeals to WTO over EU's final ruling of countervailing measures on Chinese EVs: commerce ministry

BEIJING -- China on Monday appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the EU's final ruling of countervailing measures on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), according to China's commerce ministry.

China firmly opposes the final measures of the EU to impose high countervailing duties on Chinese-made EVs, despite a barrage of objections raised by relevant parties, including the governments of EU member states, the industry and the public, said a ministry spokesperson.

To safeguard the development interests of the EV industry and global cooperation on green transformation, China decided to make the appeal to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, the spokesperson said.

The complaint followed China's previous appeal to the organization against the EU's initial anti-subsidy measures for Chinese EVs, according to the ministry.

China believes that the EU's ruling, lacking factual and legal basis while violating WTO rules, is an abuse of trade remedy measures and a practice of trade protectionism in the name of countervailing, the spokesperson noted.

China has urged the EU to face up to its own mistakes, immediately correct its illegal practices, and jointly safeguard the stability of the global EV industrial chain and supply chain as well as the overall China-EU economic and trade cooperation, the spokesperson said.