[BRUSSELS] The European Union is considering forcing Chinese firms to hand over technology to European companies if they want to operate locally, in an aggressive new push to make the bloc’s industry more competitive.
The measures would apply to companies seeking access to key digital and manufacturing markets such as cars and batteries, according to sources familiar with the plans. The rules would also require the firms to use a set amount of EU goods or labour, and to add value to the products on EU soil.
Enforcing joint ventures is another option on the table.
While the rules, expected in November, would technically apply to all non-EU firms, the goal is to keep China’s manufacturing might from overwhelming European industry, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We are welcoming foreign direct investment under the conditions that they are real investment,” EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told reporters on Tuesday (Oct 14) following an EU trade ministers’ meeting in Horsens, Denmark. That means jobs created in Europe, value added in Europe and technology transfers to Europe, he said. “As European companies have been doing when they have been investing in China”.
The high-stakes manoeuvre comes at a pivotal moment for Europe. Subsidised Chinese products have overrun EU industries and Beijing’s looming restrictions on rare earth minerals are threatening to squeeze the continent’s manufacturers. But targeting China, with a page from Beijing’s protectionist playbook, is likely to provoke a backlash, potentially damaging what remains a critical trading relationship.
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“Several measures are being considered to foster a strong, competitive, and decarbonised European industry,” said Thomas Regnier, a spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, preparing the regulations. He added that “no final decision has been made regarding the exact scope and nature of these measures.”
Tensions are already high between the two powers. The EU recently moved to double tariffs on steel imports, which would hit cheap Chinese imports. Days later, Beijing said it would adopt new export controls on vital rare earth minerals, prompting EU calls to further limit the bloc’s economic dependency on China.
The EU has spent the last several years vowing to protect domestic manufacturers from China. The forthcoming regulations will accelerate that effort, arriving as part of a legislative proposal called the Industrial Accelerator Act.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the legislation in September as a way to boost Europe’s next-generation industries.
“The future of clean tech will continue to be made in Europe,” she said in an annual address to the European Parliament. “But for that, we also need to make sure that our industry has the materials here in Europe.”
She added: “In sum, when it comes to digital and clean tech: faster, smarter and more European.”
With its plan, the EU is mimicking Beijing, which has long put strict parameters on outside firms wanting to enter its market. Simultaneously, China has invested heavily in Europe and other parts of the world through its Belt and Road Initiative, hoovering up technical knowledge in the process.
“China is flexing its muscles, using trade interdependencies for political gain,” EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Tuesday.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that the EU “should be inspired” by these actions, speaking after the EU trade ministers’ meeting. “We find ourselves in new circumstances. It’s not just about free trade, free trade, free trade, even though we subscribe to this idea.”
Europe has been struggling with anaemic growth and weak investment, dragged down by the sluggish performance of Germany, its largest economy. As European industry looks for ways to protect their business models, lobby groups have been calling for the commission to consider drastic action to gain access to technologies where China has gained an edge.
“It’s essential that foreign investments, such as in batteries and other clean tech, come with technology transfer and the skilling of the European workforce,” said Victor van Hoorn, director at the industry group Cleantech for Europe. “This needs to be agreed upon at EU level.”
Rasmussen backed up the idea: “If we invite China’s investments to Europe, it must come with the precondition that we also have some kind of technology transfer.”
A key plank of the upcoming proposal will aim to help Europe’s nascent electric-vehicle industry, said sources familiar with the plan. It will specifically focus on the transfers of battery technology know-how, given that EU automakers are often reliant on China for these components in electric vehicles, leaving them behind Chinese peers, such as BYD.
Chinese car companies have already been scaling up their presence in Europe, with BYD investing in a plant in Hungary and pledging to ramp up EV battery production across the continent. CATL, one of China’s most advanced battery makers, is planning to send 2,000 workers to build and staff a four billion euros (S$6 billion) battery plant in Spain in a joint venture with Stellantis.
Under the proposal, foreign carmakers wanting to sell cars in the EU would have to locally source a specific amount of goods and services. Also under consideration is a requirement that foreign-owned plants hire EU workers, according to one of the sources.
The package will also simplify the permitting process for European companies. BLOOMBERG
