European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Berlin: The European Commission will postpone its decision on Chinese electric vehicle tariffs until after the European Parliament election on June 9, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
The provisional tariffs, which were expected to be announced by June 5, would be a sticker shock representing billions of dollars in new costs for Chinese electric car makers.
The delay aims to keep the issue out of the election campaign phase, German magazine Spiegel, which first reported the news, said. The European Parliament election is on June 6-9.
The source told Reuters that the new deadline was June 10, the day after election results are released, although they believed the change was related to a last minute technical issue with the document.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment made after European working hours.
The investigation, officially launched on Oct. 4, can last up to 13 months. The Commission can impose provisional anti-subsidy duties nine months after the start of the probe.
The Commission has warned three Chinese electric vehicle makers that they have not supplied sufficient information for the anti-subsidy investigation, two people familiar with the case told Reuters earlier this month.