Mercedes Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius expects a decision on EU's import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles soon, he said at an industry conference on Thursday.
"A decision is imminent," the German luxury
carmaker's chief executive told the CAR Symposium 2024.
The decision was initially due this week but was postponed
until after next week's election in the bloc.
The European Commission, which oversees trade policy in the
27-nation European Union, launched an investigation in October into whether
fully-electric cars manufactured in China were receiving distortive subsidies
and warranted extra tariffs.
Kaellenius once again stressed his stance against
restrictions, but acknowledged that World Trade Organization (WTO) rules are
not keeping some countries from supporting their national producers.
It Is better to counter that with trade stimulus than with
protectionism, especially for Germany, which has a strongly export-oriented
economy, he added.
Mercedes, like its German peers BMW and Volkswagen, heavily
relies on revenues from its biggest market China and produces some of its
models there.