Escalating US protectionism ‘will hurt own auto producers’
Escalating US trade protectionism, and its behavior of politicizing economic issues and erecting more trade barriers to affect fair competition, will only harm the development of its own auto industry in the long run, He Yadong, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said on Thursday.
Chinese cars are popular in the global market because of their innovative features and high quality rather than alleged low-price dumping, He said, responding to a question over media reports saying that the Alliance for American Manufacturing had asked the US government to block the import of low-cost Chinese automobiles and auto parts from Mexico.
In recent years, the US side has erected barriers to thwart Chinese car imports, like levying additional tariffs, excluding Chinese car brands from US government procurement and implementing discriminatory subsidy policies, He said. While the US erects barriers to hinder Chinese carmakers, China is always open to carmakers from across the world, He said.
US carmakers have fully enjoyed the dividends of China’s huge market, with the sales volume of American brands far outpacing Chinese brands in the US. Protectionism by the US will only hinder its own auto industry’s development in the long run, He said.
The MOFCOM spokesperson urged the US to respect the rules of the market economy and the principle of fair competition while correcting its non-market practices in order to build a fair environment for the long-term development of the auto industry.
The EU has also stepped up trade protectionism against Chinese automobiles, and recently, the EU’s antitrust regulator launched an investigation into CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, said that the protectionist moves of the US and EU violate the WTO principle of fairness, and robust exports of Chinese new-energy vehicles reflect the strong competitiveness of China’s industry chains rather than so-called subsidies.