Review of EU restrictions on importing hybrid vehicles from China

EU Reviews Restrictions on Imports of Chinese Hybrid Cars One-quarter of New European Cars are Chinese Hybrid EU Trade Commissioner Visits China to Discuss Trade Imbalance For a full understanding, please read the article along with the main text. Submitted October 8, 2026 at 00:06 EU Reviews Restrictions on Imports of Chinese Hybrid Cars One-quarter of New European Cars are Chinese Hybrid EU Trade Commissioner Visits China to Discuss Trade Imbalance Google Search prioritizes Yonhap News agency articles. (Brussels=Yonhap News) Reporter Hyun Yoon-kyung = Bloomberg reported on the 7th (local time) that the European Union (EU) is considering safeguard measures to limit the import of Chinese hybrid vehicles into the region as a means to reduce the mounting trade deficit with China. A source familiar with the matter stated that the European Commission may impose import restrictions, such as tariffs, on products imported in excess of a certain volume, as the sales of Chinese hybrid vehicles in Europe have rapidly increased. One-quarter of all new car sales in Europe are Chinese hybrid vehicles. Chinese automakers are advancing, recording the largest market share of up to 12% in new car sales in the European automotive market in August, supported by their hybrid vehicles. Unlike electric vehicles, where Chinese hybrid vehicles are subject to tariffs of up to about 45%, they are only subject to a basic tariff of 10% in the EU. According to an EU source, the EU is considering applying temporary import restrictions on Chinese hybrid vehicles and aims to set the import ceilings low enough to avoid retaliation from China. In response to this news, European automakers' stock prices all surged, with Volkswagen's stock price rising by 4.6% during trading. The source explained that the Commission also intends to use this as a test case to rectify the trade imbalance with China concerning hybrid vehicles and that if this strategy proves effective, the same approach can be applied to other areas. However, the source added that Maroš Štemporaryc, the EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner, will visit China for three days starting today to intensively discuss trade imbalance issues with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and export control issues concerning key materials such as rare earth elements, and the EU's plans may change depending on the results of this meeting. The EU recorded a trade deficit of 360 billion euros (approximately 541 trillion won) in goods trade with China last year, which increased by 15% compared to the previous year, and the trade deficit with China reached about 1 billion euros (approximately 1.5 trillion won) per day. To protect European industries and jobs facing existential threats from the onslaught of low-cost imports from China, the EU has made resolving the trade imbalance with China a top priority and has been negotiating for three months, demanding that China take corrective action by the end of this month. New measures that can be used to respond to China's trade practices are also expected to be discussed at the EU summit in Brussels on the 15th and 16th. Meanwhile, Germany and France, the EU's "twin engines," recently proposed that the EU should adopt new measures that go beyond existing defensive tools to enable a stronger and faster response to the trade dispute threatening Europe ahead of the upcoming EU summit. Meanwhile, the EU had previously proposed the introduction of voluntary export quotas on hybrid vehicle exports to China, but China clearly objected, stating that such measures seriously violate WTO regulations and market economic principles.