{"id":467575,"date":"2026-10-09T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T17:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/09\/ue-e-cina-trovano-la-quadra-su-auto-ibride-sefcovic-si-dimezzera-lexport-da-pechino\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T19:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T17:38:16","slug":"eu-and-china-reach-agreement-on-hybrid-cars-sefcovic-exports-from-beijing-will-be-halved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/09\/eu-and-china-reach-agreement-on-hybrid-cars-sefcovic-exports-from-beijing-will-be-halved\/","title":{"rendered":"EU and China reach agreement on hybrid cars, \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d: “Exports from Beijing will be halved”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The objective was \u201cclear\u201d: the European Commissioner for Trade, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d<\/strong>, visited Beijing yesterday (8 October) and today (9 October) to rebalance trade with the Asian giant<\/a>. At the end of the two-day visit, the first concrete results have emerged, and at today\u2019s press conference on the sidelines of the second meeting of the Trade and Investment Consultation Mechanism (TIC) \u2013 where \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d held talks with his Chinese counterpart, the Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao<\/strong> \u2013 the Commissioner welcomed the signing of a joint statement<\/a> and the agreement on three key points. <\/p>\n

Firstly, \u201c we have reached a shared understanding to moderate China’s export of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the European Union,<\/strong>\u201d emphasised<\/a> \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, opening up \u201cthe prospect of cutting China’s exports by more than 50 per cent.\u201d<\/span> This was perhaps the most complex aspect of the negotiations because Chinese hybrid cars \u2013 cars that combine an internal combustion engine (petrol or diesel) with an electric motor and a small battery, while plug-in hybrids are an evolution of the hybrid featuring a much larger battery and a more powerful electric motor \u2013 virtually dominate the European market. According to a report by Bloomberg<\/a><\/em> in August 2026, Chinese hybrid car manufacturers set a record: almost 12 per cent of new cars registered on the continent were from Chinese brands. The Commissioner did not provide many details, but noted that \u201cwe never had the level of intensity of our exchanges and contacts as we have over the last 34 months with our Chinese counterparts,\u201d <\/span>suggesting that European demands appeared \u201creasonable\u201d to the People\u2019s Republic. <\/p>\n

Second point. \u201cWe have reached a shared understanding to improve access to the Chinese market for a series of EU products through the lower most favoured nations’ MFN tariffs<\/strong>\u201d as set out by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d specified that the products \u201crange from automotive components to olive oil and footwear, with a total value of current exports amounting to almost 4 billion euros.\u201d If this measure comes into force, it will result in duty savings of \u201cat least \u20ac225 million.\u201d By way of comparison, \u201cthis figure is equivalent to a quarter of the savings expected from some of our ambitious free trade agreements, such as those with Japan or Australia,\u201d the Commissioner pointed out. <\/p>\n

Finally, the EU and China have reached \u201ca shared understanding<\/p>\n

to further facilitate China’s export licensing for rare earths and permanent magnets.<\/strong>\u201d The elephant in the room \u2013 namely the EU\u2019s \u201cunsustainable\u201d trade deficit with China, amounting to over a billion a day \u2013 is still there, but it can be addressed through dialogue. \u201cWhat we need is a tangible outcome from this very intense phase of negotiations,\u201d he emphasised. \u201cI know that, for example, our American partners have gone through many more rounds than we have. We have come through this very intense phase, but I believe we have achieved excellent results,\u201d he added. But there is no room for complacency. \u201cThis is far from the end,\u201d he clarified. The trade talks between Brussels and Beijing are \u201ca crucial first step, but only a first step in the process of rebalancing\u201d, he stressed. And addressing his counterparts, he stated: \u201cDialogue requires results and, where the dialogue cannot deliver, the EU will use its own instruments to ensure a rebalancing.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d will meet again with Wentao \u201cat our level by January and organise the 3rd trade and investment consultations in March to continue the work.\u201d The ball is now in the European Council\u2019s court, which is due to meet in Brussels on 15 and 16 October. \u201cThat is where the final decision will be taken,\u201d he noted. As for ways to restrict exports of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles from China, \u201cthere are various ways of going about this,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd I believe that, if you look just at the recent couple of months, you will find the answer. But you will certainly understand that I must first discuss the technical details and procedures and secure the endorsement of the European Union\u2019s leaders for these steps,\u201d he explained. \u201cI can assure you that, once we have secured that endorsement, we will start work as soon as possible: it will be the first thing we do as soon as we return to Brussels. And you know that the leaders will examine these negotiated solutions and this shared understanding for the first time already next Thursday,\u201d at the European Council. \u201cThat will clearly be the moment when they look at them and assess them, and then we will start to act and put all the procedures in place,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the end of his visit to the Chinese capital, the European Commissioner welcomed the signing of a joint declaration and the agreement on three key points, including the issue of rare earths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":467555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[25871,27994,25916,26215,25987,35217,33394,26326],"class_list":["post-467575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-australia-en","tag-cina-en","tag-japan-en","tag-maros-sefcovicat","tag-palazzo-berlaymont","tag-ue","tag-states-united-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467576,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467575\/revisions\/467576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}