World
EU-China talks fail to deliver breakthrough on electric cars dispute
Brussels and Beijing have agreed to take a new look at price undertakings, which could avoid extra tariffs on China-made electric vehicles.
A high-profile attempt between the European Commission and the Chinese government to solve the ongoing dispute around battery electric vehicles (BEVs) failed to deliver a breakthrough, as differences remain entrenched.
Hope, however, is not yet lost as both parties vowed to intensify negotiations. Brussels will offer Chinese carmakers a new chance to set minimum prices for their products.
“Both sides agreed to intensify efforts to find an effective, enforceable and WTO-compatible solution to the BEV case (…) without prejudice to the EU investigation and its deadlines,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commission’s executive vice president in charge of trade, said after a “constructive” meeting with Wang Wentao, China’s minister of commerce, on Thursday.
Brussels has accused Beijing of lavishing its BEVs with subsidies to artificially lower their retail price and push European competitors out of the lucrative market. Following a months-long investigation, the Commission found public money spread across the entire supply chain, creating a risk of unsustainable economic losses for the EU industry.
The executive then proposed a raft of additional import tariffs that will apply to BEVs made in China, including those assembled by Western firms in the country. The proposed duties, ranging from 7.8% to 35.3%, according to the brand and their level of cooperation with the investigation, will come on top of the existing 10% rate.
The top-up is supposed to ensure fairer competition and close the price gap between EU and Chinese manufacturers.
Member states need to ratify the tariffs in a vote that should happen sometime before November. If they do so, the rates will become permanent for five years.
From the onset, Beijing has adopted an antagonising position in public, calling the Commission’s inquiry a “naked protectionist act” that “constructed and exaggerated the so-called subsidies.” In a tit-for-tat, it launched several probes against sensitive European exports, such as pork, brandy and dairy.
Behind the scenes, however, Chinese officials have sought to achieve a negotiated solution to the dispute and shield domestic companies from the steep tariffs.
This effort reached a peak on Thursday when Minister Wang met Vice-President Dombrovkis in Brussels.
During the encounter, Dombrovkis defended the Commission’s proposal as being “based strictly on facts and evidence” and solely intended to “compensate” for state subsidies, according to a spokesperson. Dombrovkis censured Beijing’s retaliatory probes into pork, brandy and dairy as “unwarranted” and called for them to be “terminated.”
In a readout, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reaffirmed its willingness to achieve a solution through “friendly dialogue and consultation” but warned of reprisals to protect domestic companies “if the EU insists on implementing unreasonable tax measures.”
The day before, Wang spoke at a roundtable of BEV producers in Brussels and said negotiations should continue “until the final moment,” that is the vote by member states. “If the consultations fail, the responsibility does not lie with the Chinese side,” he said.
The most notable development of Thursday’s meeting is a mutual commitment to re-evaluating the option of price undertakings, a trade tool that companies can use to increase the price and control the volumes of their exports to avoid anti-subsidy tariffs.
Last week, Brussels rejected the price undertaking offered by Chinese firms subject to the hiked duties, like BYD, Geely and SAIC.
ADVERTISEMENTIntense lobbying
In parallel to the negotiations, Beijing is stepping up its lobbying efforts to convince certain member states to vote against the tariffs and derail the Commission’s plan.
A qualified majority of 15 countries representing at least 65% of the bloc’s population needs to oppose the duties to prevent them from coming into force. The Commission has never been defeated on tariffs.
Hungary, which plans to attract Chinese investment, is firmly against the measures. Germany, under pressure from its all-important automotive industry, is leaning heavily towards voting them down and is reportedly working the phones to make that happen.
The Chinese lobbying scored a big win last week when Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly called on the Commission to “reconsider” the proposal.
ADVERTISEMENT“We need to reconsider all of us, not only the member states but also the Commission, our position towards this movement,” the Spanish prime minister said in Shanghai, the last stop of his official four-day visit to China.
“As I said before, we don’t need another war, in this case, a trade war. We need to build bridges between the European Union and China.”
The remarks caught Brussels by surprise: until then, Spain was considered supportive of the extra tariffs, having voted in favour during a non-binding consultation in July.
The apparent U-turn was seen as a direct consequence of what Ursula von der Leyen once described as China’s “divide-and-conquer tactics,” given that Sánchez had just sealed a €1-billion deal with a Chinese company to build an electrolyser plant in Spain
ADVERTISEMENTA spokesperson of the German government welcomed Sánchez’s position, saying that “the direction of travel is one that we share.”
This piece has been updated with more reactions.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The United Kingdom on Monday blamed an Iran-linked proxy group for a string of antisemitic arson attacks targeting British Jewish sites, prompting the government to ban Tehran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and impose sweeping new powers to crack down on foreign-backed sabotage.
British officials said the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR) publicly claimed responsibility for seven attacks this year targeting Jewish and Israeli-linked locations, as well as a Persian-language media outlet critical of Iran’s government. According to the U.K. government, members of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force were “almost certainly” directing the group’s operations across Europe.
The attacks included fires at synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances and other Jewish community sites in London. No injuries were reported.
DESANTIS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO USE NEW STATE LAW TO TARGET DOZENS OF ALLEGED TERRORIST GROUPS
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts a reception with the Jewish community to discuss efforts to tackle antisemitism, at Downing Street, in London, July 13, 2026. (Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new measures send a clear message to foreign adversaries seeking to sow violence.
“We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets,” Starmer said. “Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain.”
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer discusses efforts to tackle antisemitism at Downing Street in London, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photo via AP)
If Parliament approves the designations later this week, anyone carrying out acts of sabotage — including arson — on behalf of the IRGC, IMCR or Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps could face life imprisonment. Supporting or assisting the groups could carry prison sentences of up to 14 years.
The British government said the new authorities, created under the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, will make it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions because they will no longer have to prove a direct foreign government connection in every case.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood accused both Tehran and Moscow of relying on criminal proxies to conduct hostile operations inside the United Kingdom.
“Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said. “I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.”
ISRAEL FORTIFIES BORDER WITH JORDAN AS IRAN SEEKS NEW TERROR PATH
The government said IMCR emerged online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands. British intelligence officials say Iran-backed proxy groups have increasingly recruited members of criminal organizations to carry out sabotage, intimidation and physical attacks across Europe, often targeting Jewish communities and Iranian dissidents.
Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in London, March 23, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
According to the U.K., MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots against individuals in Britain over the past year. The government has already sanctioned more than 550 Iranian-linked individuals and entities and has pledged £250 million ($334,662,500) over three years to strengthen security for Jewish communities, including increased protection for synagogues, schools and community centers.
Britain also designated Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps, saying the group acts as a proxy for Russian military intelligence by recruiting individuals online to conduct sabotage, arson and other hostile operations.
The crackdown comes just weeks after two Romanian men were sentenced to prison for stabbing a journalist working for a Persian-language television station in London, an attack a British judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Iran did not immediately comment on Monday’s announcement, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on
The European Union has sanctioned VK Company, which dominates Russia’s online sphere, for colluding with the Kremlin to identify critics of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and curtail access to independent sources of information.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
VK Company runs VKontakte, the country’s most popular social media site. Often described as “the Russian Facebook”, it has an estimated 70 million users.
The decision, taken on Monday by foreign ministers, points the finger at VK Company and an associated firm for developing and managing Max App, which is state-backed and comes pre-installed on all phones and tablets sold in Russia.
Citing experts, Brussels argues that Max App has “extensive surveillance features” that Russian authorities use to track online communications, gather data, monitor address books, identify user location and install autonomous updates.
The imposition of Max App has helped the state crack down on competitors, such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, and on VPNs, the private networks that Russians employ to bypass increasingly stringent state restrictions on the Internet.
“VK has cooperated with Russian authorities in their repressive actions, including by providing them with data concerning users of its services who posted content criticising Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, or other content banned by the authorities,” the legal text says.
“VK has also participated in the government-ordered ban on the use of VPNs, through which Russian internet users could previously access independent content.”
Monday’s decision introduces an asset freeze and prohibits EU companies from making funds available to VK Company. In a statement to Russian state-owned media outlet TASS, the firm said that its applications and services remained “available to users as normal”.
Besides VK Company, the EU also sanctioned Citadel, VAS Experts and Norsi-Trans, three companies that provide hardware and software for the so-called System of Operative Investigative Measures that Russian authorities use to track online communication and target journalists, opposition figures, minority groups and ordinary citizens.
The restrictions were adopted under a special regime dedicated to punishing human rights violations.
Separately, the EU sanctionednine individuals and four entities accused of carrying out “malicious” cyber attacks against several member states.
-
News20 minutes agoA guard punched him on camera. It was still nearly impossible for him to sue
-
Los Angeles, Ca2 hours agoRitzy Pasadena hotel settles lawsuit for allegedly price gouging wildfire victims
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoBrother Nature at Night: Jack’s backyard & kayaking the Huron River
-
San Francisco, CA3 hours agoHardin Fire in Napa County burns 55 acres near Pope Valley
-
Dallas, TX3 hours agoFormer Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa runs for Dallas Mayor
-
Miami, FL3 hours agoSouth Florida mother arrested for leaving daughter chained to fence, police say
-
Boston, MA3 hours agoBoston man charged after allegedly assaulting Burger King employee, punching customer
-
Denver, CO3 hours agoDenver Country Club caddie earns full-ride Evans Scholarship, becomes first in family to attend college
