The UK’s continuation of regulatory alignment with the EU on automotive matters post-Brexit would seem to suggest that the imposition of extra import tariffs on Chinese-made EVs is inevitable, the European bloc having taken that step to protect its industry from cheap imports from China.
However, unlike the EU, the UK no longer has much of a mainstream domestic manufacturing industry to protect, so the ‘threat’ isn’t really one at all.
Retaliatory tariffs from Beijing are set to target large premium cars from the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz in one of the few market segments that Chinese brands have yet to get to grips with at home.
Should Westminster follow Brussels in taxing Chinese EVs (new business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said it has no plans to do so), it should expect the same retaliatory tariffs as a result – which would be bad news for the likes of Bentley, JLR and Rolls-Royce.
