Why German carmakers don’t want EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

I recant. On a number of occasions I have asserted that the European Union is run by lobbyists acting on behalf of French farmers and the German car industry. It seems I was wrong – or perhaps that I have become wrong as the politics of global trade has shifted. A more accurate way of putting it would be to say that the EU is run by people who think they are acting in the interests of French farmers and the German car industry, but who are not quite plugged in to what those industries really want.

At the beginning of the year, we had the farmers’ protests, when farmers complained that EU regulation – much of which was drawn up supposedly to help them – was driving them out of business. Now it is the turn of German carmakers – only metaphorically so far – to march on Brussels.