(ICIS) -- China's Ministry of Commerce announced on Thursday it has implemented anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on some US-made cars with effect from 15 December. The ministry said in a statement on its website it will start imposing duties on imported saloon and cross-country cars made by US companies, with a cylinder capacity of more than 2,500cc, from 15 December this year to 14 December 2013. China currently imposes a 25% tariff on imported cars.
The companies listed for the duties include General Motors, Chrysler Group, Honda Motor, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, according to the statement. General Motors and Chrysler will be the most affected, with anti-dumping duties at 8.9% and 8.8% respectively, while each will face anti-subsidy duties of 12.9% and 6.2% respectively, according to the statement.
⌠It is reasonable self-defense for China and more of a signal that China is exerting pressure on US trade protectionist moves, said Zhou Shijian, an expert on China-US trade from Tsinghua University. The ministry released a final ruling on the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on imports of US automobiles on 5 May this year.
It ruled that the dumping and subsidy simultaneously exist for imports of saloon and cross-country cars, with a cylinder capacity of more than 2,500cc, originating from the US, causing material injury to China's automobile industry.
China sold 1.66m vehicles in November this year, which is a decrease of 2.42% year on year, but an increase of 8.6% from October, according to data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
The country's vehicle production in November dropped by 3.41% on year to 1.7m units, which represents a growth of 7.95% from October, the CAAM said.