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Comment by Element_ | Hacker News Reader

According to the following article VW sold over 200k electric cars in Europe during the last 12 months and is now out-selling Tesla in the European market...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltaylor/2021/05/24/volksw...

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VW and the others have some really cool competition for tesla. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfP85iAWD3w

Europe imposes a 10% tariff on imported cars.

I do think that the EV city car is an area where some European car manufacturers have an advantage.

Europe is not a country. Or do you mean all countries in the EU have a 10% tariff?

Yeah. You are right. The EU imposes a tariff.

From the perspective of a goods importer, the EU is effectively one country.

The EU is a customs union. Import tariffs are set by the EU, not by individual member countries.

The 10% import tariff applies to vehicle imports from countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the EU, including the US and China.

Imports from countries such as South Korea (Hyundai, Kia) and Mexico (Ford) are exempt from the tariff thanks to bilateral FTAs. Japan also has an FTA which phases in over the next decade.

I think the parent comment was being pedantic/correct that Europe is not a customs union, country, or set of laws. Europe is a continent, and the EU is (among other things) a customs union.

Can you give a citation for this? On the contrary all I can find is that the UK intends to put a 10% tariff on EU-produced cars.

Citation from the European Union's official website:

https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?prod...

Their EV aren't doing so well in China though.

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