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It could mark the beginning of the end of a long-standing trade conflict
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The EU and China have agreed to talks on abolishing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the Union
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and replacing them with minimum prices instead. The EU Commission said Trade Commissioner Maro Sefsovic recently spoke with China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao
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and that negotiations are set to begin immediately. The EU imposed the tariffs last October, a 45.3% duty on Chinese-made EVs aimed at protecting European carmakers after Chinese sales had surged across the Union
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But Germany's car industry opposed the tariffs, fearing a trade war with a key partner. Now they welcome the talks
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Regardless of current global developments, it must also be discussed here how to reduce obstacles and distortions in international trade rather than building new hurdles
0:57
The move comes as the U.S. president has ramped up trade tensions even with close partners
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Everybody, including China and the EU, are looking for new partners or looking for strengthening relationships with partners besides the U.S., since the U.S. is becoming a more hostile trade partner
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And of course, since China and the EU are two of the biggest economies in the world, they look to each other for increasing their economic links
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China's commerce minister confirmed Thursday that wider talks have already begun, aimed at deepening EU-China trade and investments in general
