All eyes have been on Beijing since the EU’s decision to place curbs on Chinese electric vehicle exports last week. Retaliation is coming. Raising tariffs on imported European gasoline-powered cars is a possibility, according to state media. But European automakers may not be the ones that are hit the hardest. 

Chinese car companies and industry groups have suggested that authorities raise tariffs on vehicles imported from the EU, according to China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper on Wednesday. Last month it reported that a government-affiliated auto research centre suggested that Beijing increase its import tariffs on large gasoline-powered cars to 25 per cent, up from the current 15 per cent.

China is the third-largest market by value for EU vehicle exports after the US and the UK: cars worth €19.4bn were exported from the EU to China last year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. That is double the value of battery electric vehicles that were imported into the EU from China.