Our country is doing everything to avoid an EU-China trade war.

Hungary will also do everything during its consecutive EU presidency to avoid a trade war with China, as it would cause serious damage to the continent, warned Péter Szijjártó Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Budapest on Sunday.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the minister received Robin Zeng, the founder and chairman of CATL, the world's largest electric battery manufacturer, and then reported that the global automotive industry is going through a huge technological revolution, of which the Chinese company is one of the most decisive players.

He pointed out that nowadays there are clearly more and more electric vehicles on the roads of Europe, Hungary and the world, and they are beginning to overshadow traditional gasoline or diesel engines.

Hungary made a good move and made the right strategic decision when we decided to make our country the main European cooperation center for Eastern and Western car manufacturers

- he said, and then touched on the establishment of the most important German, Chinese and South Korean companies in the sector here.

We are one of three countries in the world where all three major German car brands have their own factories, and we are the only country in the world where these three major German car manufacturers are complemented by five of the world's ten largest electric battery manufacturers, including three from China , with two South Koreans, he pointed out.

"Chinese and German automotive companies meet here in Hungary and cooperate here. Both the German car manufacturers and the Chinese battery manufacturers, as well as Hungary, the Hungarian economy, Hungarian families, and the Hungarian people benefit a lot from this," he listed.

Péter Szijjártó underlined that in the next period those economies will be able to grow really quickly, in which the international corporate cooperation necessary for the revolutionary renewal of the automotive industry can be established.

"And this was created in Hungary. This is largely due to CATL, the world's largest electric battery manufacturing company, which is building its factory in Debrecen with steam power, where large infrastructural developments are taking place as a result," he said.

In this regard, he called it good news that the first unit of the company's factory was handed over at the end of the previous month. According to his information, it is a 40,000 square meter building, of which 9,000 square meters are used for production, while 30,000 square meters are for storage and office background functions.

Two production lines will be located here, the first two production lines, with which they will be able to start trial production at the beginning of next year, he said.

It is therefore good news that the German and Chinese car manufacturing companies have chosen Hungary as the European center of their international cooperation. This provides a solid basis for the growth of the domestic economy, he added.

The minister also touched on the European Union's punitive tariffs on the Chinese car industry, and said that during the consultation they agreed that this was a very bad idea.

"It's a very bad idea from a European point of view. These tariffs are causing enormous damage to the European economy. We really hope that their final introduction will not take place," he stated.

He then highlighted that although the Brussels bureaucrats invoked the protection of the interests of the major European car manufacturers when preparing the proposal, the companies involved made it clear that this would be harmful to them as well.

Therefore, we will do everything in the coming period, even during our presidency, to avoid the outbreak of a trade war between Europe and China, he stated.

"If the European Commission imposes tariffs on Chinese products, then China will also impose tariffs on European products, and this would be extremely harmful to the entire European economy. That's why we continue to believe in Eurasian and European-Chinese cooperation based on mutual respect, striving for mutual benefits, and not in customs, not in restrictive measures, not in sanctions," he concluded.

MTI

Cover photo: Péter Szijjártó
Source: Facebook/Péter Szijjártó