The Ministry of Commerce Photo: VCG

China and the European Union (EU) will continue to hold consultations regarding the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), after the representatives of EU member states last Friday voted to pass the draft final ruling on the case, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Recently, China has had intensive communication with both the US and the EU concerning trade issues involving EVs, Xinhua reported, citing sources familiar with this matter.

This came as the European bloc a month ago reportedly rejected China's proposal for a minimum sales price of 30,000 euros ($32,946) for EVs, according to an exclusive report by Reuters on Wednesday.

Neither Chinese nor the EU officials confirmed this report.

If this report is true, the underlying logic of the EU's stance is no longer about the specific prices of Chinese EVs, but rather about the country of origin of these vehicles, aiming to impose trade barriers, Yang Chengyu, an associate research fellow at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Yang noted that the EU needs to show greater commitment in negotiations, saying that China has shown significant goodwill, and the EU should meet China halfway.

The EU remains focused on promoting protectionism; however, this approach will not effectively protect European industries; in fact, it will harm European carmakers, Yang noted.

Major European automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, have clearly expressed opposition to the EU's actions, saying that imposing tariffs on Chinese EVs is a mistaken approach and sends a fatal signal to the European automotive industry.

The EU's relevant measure lacks a factual and legal basis, clearly violates WTO rules and is essentially protectionism disguised as a trade remedy, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said in a statement posted on the ministry's website on Wednesday.

While the EV dispute remains unsettled, the European Commission's trade spokesperson Olof Gill said in a statement on Tuesday that "the European Commission will challenge, at the WTO, the announced imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures by China on imports of brandy from the EU," German media outlet Deutsche Welle reported.

China's anti-dumping measures against EU brandy completely comply with WTO rules, the MOFCOM spokesperson said on Wednesday.

China legitimately launched the anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the EU following a request from the domestic industry, and then decided to implement a justified trade remedy, the MOFCOM spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The MOFCOM spokesperson said on Tuesday that it would impose temporary anti-dumping measures on European brandy, as preliminary findings indicate that the product is being dumped into the Chinese market.