EU Rejects China's Offer for Minimum EV Sales Price

­We’ve all been privy to two, distinct ways of dealing with globalization – a free exchange of products and ideas or protectionist measures, with tariffs and legislation that favors homegrown tech. Where it concerns Chinese EVs, the EU has chosen the latter.

China, of course, leads the globe on the EV front (and the lithium-ion batteries powering them and all manner of portable electronics), and in part, that’s because of the paltry cost of EVs in the People’s Republic – due to unfettered access to raw materials and heavy subsidies from Beijing, the average Chinese EV costs around 32,000 euros ($35,126.40) in Europe, while Europe EVs average about 66,000 euros.

And while the average Chinese salary is only about 33,415 Euros/year (or $36,600), Chinese EVs go for considerably less in their home country.

All of these pricing shenanigans have led to the EU to propose some drastic top-down actions – according to Reuters, the European Commission will propose tariffs of up to 35.3% on EVs built in China, on top of the EU's standard 10% car import duty.

To offset the need for tariffs, Beijing has proposed a minimum price of 30,000 euros ($32,946) for EVs sold to Euro, which the EU summarily rejected.

"Our review focused on whether the offers would eliminate the injurious effects of subsidies and could be effectively monitored and enforced. The Commission has concluded that none of the offers met these requirements," a Commission spokesperson said.

Instead, an EU source claims that price levels of 35,000 to 40,000 euros would be more realistic, though it remains unclear if China would accept that.

EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao are due for another meeting soon.