We have recently made reference to the leaders of China and Germany meeting only a few days ago to discuss, amongst other things, the likely imposition of import tariffs on Chinese solar panel manufacturers by the European Commission. An announcement about this is expected next week and there are currently a number of EU member countries against such tariffs being put in place.
Angela Merkel is keen to foster trade relations with China
(image credit: arne.list)
As has previously been stated, Germany does not wish to see average import tariffs of about 47% being imposed on China, not least of which, because Germany and China are involved in a significant amount of trade passing between one another. Therefore, Germany would not wish their relationship with China to turn into an unpleasant one.
Apparently, China has made it clear that it is agreeable to permitting businesses in Germany investing in new areas of the Chinese economy and that it would be agreeable to bypassing the European Union when trading with Germany.
The Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is keen to encourage a closer trading partnership with Germany, in particular in logistics, healthcare and education and will, if required, provide Germany with preferential access to these sectors. China and Germany’s bilateral trade amounts to £128 billion – that is 33% of China’s total trade with member countries of the European Union. China invests 1.2 billion euros each year directly into Germany but Germany invests about 35 billion euros directly into China.
Therefore, you can see the importance of the trading relationship between both Germany and China and that is one of the reasons why the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been keen to make her feelings felt in respect of the awaited decision from the European Commission that is expected to impose import tariffs on Chinese solar panel manufacturers for supposedly dumping.
As and, no doubt, when there are further developments to report about the probable imposition of import tariffs we will provide an update.
