No 10 leaves door open to Chinese EV tariffs as price of joining EU's 'Made in Europe' car scheme

Downing Street has refused to rule out imposing tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles after France dropped its opposition to Britain joining the EU's Industrial Accelerator Act. A Franco-German deal struck on Friday would require the UK to dynamically align with EU trade defence measures — including tariffs on Chinese EVs that have reached 45% — as the price of entry. Beijing has warned London it is "firmly opposed" to any such discriminatory measures and has expressed "serious concern" to the UK government. Britain currently applies only a 10% import duty on Chinese electric cars, against 45% in the EU and 100% in the US.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had said earlier this week that the UK would not be "coerced" into aligning with EU tariff policy.

Exclusion from the scheme risks costing the UK car industry billions in lost EU supply-chain trade, the government fears.

Chinese EVs now hold a 10.7% share of the European market, up from 5.7% a year ago, piling pressure on all sides to act.