The complaint itself dates back to late March and targets subsidies that the US administration of President Joe Biden is giving to electric cars made in the United States. Since then, China and the US have been unable to reach an agreement through negotiations. And so China has now asked for a WTO panel to look into the matter.
The electric car sector is increasingly entangled in tensions over trade and geopolitics. In early July, provisional tariffs on the import of electric cars from China were imposed at Europe’s external borders. These tariffs are intended to protect European manufacturers from unfair competition from Chinese companies that can supply more cheaply thanks to extensive government support, according to the European Commission. China has already threatened to file a complaint with the WTO.