European Interest

EU reviews Chinese e-bike imports

Flickr/V.T. Polywoda/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The main form of transportation for the residents of many Chinese cities is the electric bicycle.

Chinese electric bicycles will be subject to new European Union duties to curb cheap imports that European producers. It was decided by EU governments on December 18.

The European Commission, which is investigating on behalf of the 28 EU members, has proposed that definitive or final tariffs of between 18.8% and 79.3% should apply for all e-bikes coming from China.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties are the latest in a series of EU measures against Chinese exports ranging from solar panels to steel, which have sparked strong words from Beijing.

Unlike the United States, the European Union has not launched a trade war against China, but it shares US concerns about forced technology transfers and Chinese state subsidies.

The electric bicycle imports are already subject to the duties set on a provisional basis in July. Definitive duties typically apply for five years, according to Reuters.

Taiwan’s Giant, one of the world’s largest bicyclemakers, which has factories in China as well as in the Netherlands, would be subject to a rate of 24.8%.

Explore more