China says filed appeal to WTO over EU electric vehicle tariffs

Beijing said Friday it had filed an appeal with the World Trade Organization over the European Union's imposition of additional tariffs on imports of electric vehicles from China.

"On August 9, China appealed to the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement mechanism over the EU's temporary anti-subsidy measures on EVs," a spokesperson for the country's commerce ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the appeal aimed to "safeguard the development rights and interests of the electric vehicle industry and cooperation over the global green transformation".

"The EU's preliminary ruling lacks a factual and legal basis, seriously violates WTO rules, and undermines the overall situation of global cooperation in addressing climate change," it said.

"We urge the EU to immediately correct its wrong practices and jointly maintain the stability of China-EU economic and trade cooperation as well as EV industrial and supply chains."

In July, the EU slapped extra provisional duties of up to 38 percent on Chinese EV imports.

The move came after its executive arm, the European Commission, concluded in an investigation last year that they were unfairly undermining European rivals.