The European Union is pressing Beijing to accept voluntary limits on hybrid vehicle shipments to Europe, and is prepared to raise tariffs if negotiations fail, according to a Financial Times report. The move would extend the trade pressure Brussels first applied to China-built battery electric vehicles in late 2024 into the fast-growing hybrid segment.
The urgency stems from a sharp shift in trade flows. Monthly EU imports of Chinese hybrids climbed from 3,800 units in October 2024 to 50,000 by July 2026, even as average prices declined. China-made BEVs face anti-subsidy duties of up to roughly 45% while hybrids enter at just 10%, and with BEV volumes growing only modestly under those tariffs, exporters have pivoted toward hybrids.
The hybrid dispute sits inside a broader effort to rebalance EU-China trade. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called the bloc's roughly €1 billion-a-day deficit with China a tipping point, while trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is set to speak with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and visit Beijing in October. An EU official said the bloc would act unilaterally if China does not restrain shipments, with the goal of "stopping deindustrialisation." Brussels also hopes an export-restraint deal could steer Chinese carmakers toward local investment or partnerships with European manufacturers, echoing the path Japanese automakers took earlier, and Germany and France are converging on a firmer line.
The stakes are high for Chinese automakers, which increasingly lean on foreign demand. China shipped 1.01 million vehicles abroad in August, up 65.3% year-on-year, including 526,000 new energy vehicles — up around 130% and just over half of all exports — even as domestic NEV sales fell 4.6% over the same period.