Tariffs work. At least as a brake in North America, where imports of Chinese electric cars have fallen by a whopping 97 percent.
Tariffs in the US and EU are significantly reducing exports of Chinese cars. Imports are plummeting in the West, with 97 percent fewer cars going to the US. But they are growing in Russia.
Chinese car exports are experiencing a significant decline. New figures for February show a decline on a global scale.
Tariffs in the US and EU in particular are negatively affecting sales, leading to a large decline in imports of Chinese cars in those markets.
Chinese car manufacturers have experienced great progress in recent years. Since 2020, several new Chinese brands have come to Europe. Last year, China became the world's largest exporter of cars.
But now the figures show a cooling in several important markets. Globally, China's car exports fell by 18 percent in February compared to the previous year. 92,625 cars were exported that month.
The US and Canada imposed a 100 percent tariff on cars made in China in May last year, effectively curbing imports.
In February, only 163 Chinese cars were imported into the US and Canada. This is a drop of 97 percent compared to February the previous year. The figures show the clear effect of the tariffs.
This is reported by Bloomberg .
Tariffs hit China's car exports hard
In Europe, imports of Chinese cars have also fallen. Here, the decline was 30 percent in February. The EU applies varying punitive tariffs.
The tariffs hit harder, the less the Chinese car brands wanted to cooperate when the EU asked whether they were receiving illegal state aid from China's communist regime.
The tariff rates depend on the individual car manufacturer. They also depend on the manufacturers' willingness to cooperate with the EU. The EU is investigating allegations of anti-competitive state aid from China.
Imports fell particularly sharply in Spain and Belgium, where they almost halved in February. Despite the drop, Belgium was still the country in Europe that imported the most cars from China.
In markets like Norway and England, there are currently no punitive tariffs. They are therefore less affected by the downturn. However, electric cars have had varying degrees of success in both places.
The UK is now Europe's largest market for electric cars, with only a small drop in imports of Chinese cars in February.
New markets are emerging for China
At the same time, interest in Chinese cars is growing in other parts of the world. Imports have increased significantly in Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey. However, the number of cars in those countries is still relatively low.
Africa is also seeing an increase. Growth was 87 percent in February. However, this only corresponds to 1,275 imported cars in total for the continent.
Russia has quickly become a very large market for Chinese cars. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Western car brands pulled out.
Chinese car brands have largely filled the void, and exports to Russia have therefore increased sharply.
The development shows how global trade barriers and political conditions are affecting the automotive industry. China's position as the leading car exporter is now being challenged on several fronts.
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Among other things, layoffs are currently afoot. One of the industry's oldest companies is to lay off one in six employees. Read more about it here .
